Love Magic
by moonwrite
Summary: Usagi and Mamoru discover that their intimate moments lead to power-ups for Sailor Moon. When Mamoru breaks up with Usagi and the Senshi are kidnapped, Usagi asks Mamoru for one last time in order to save the world. The crystal, however, has other plans.
1. Chapter 1

Basics:

*Set during the breakup arc

*The senshi have been kidnapped by the Black Moon clan

*Usagi & Mamoru have not yet visited the future

*Mixing anime and manga, also playing with timelines a bit.

* * *

Jesus, Usagi shouldn't be here. Mamoru had made that abundantly clear.

But the Senshi were gone. Had been trapped, one by one, by the Black Moon Clan. Her wand hadn't been enough to stop them. Whatever hope she'd been clinging to that she would be able to get through the fight without him? It was gone.

Much as she hated it, she knew she only had one chance of saving her friends.

Usagi raised her fist to the door. Knocked.

* * *

The first time Usagi and Mamoru had slept together had been just after Ail and An had been purified. He'd just gotten his memories back. He'd taken her out on a date. Their first date, ramen and sodas and a walk through the park.

They barely knew each other yet, not in this lifetime. The date was supposed to bridge that: rival to lover; foe to friend. They hadn't thought things would move that quickly. Having millennia-old memories built into your DNA made things… different. His laugh was a laugh and also deja vu. When she'd kissed him, finally, _finally_, it was like a door opened to exactly what she'd been missing. It was not the lighthearted pining she'd done, drawing him photos and chasing him around virtual reality video games. No, it was something deeper. Like coming home.

Which is maybe why she'd called her mother and said she was staying the night at Minako's house. Why they went back to his apartment and kept kissing. She started at his temple and moved to his brow, the tip of his nose, the spot behind his ear. He'd traced his lips down her shoulders and kept his hands very firmly away from her chest until she'd guided one of his palms under her shirt.

_You can touch me, Mamo_.

* * *

They navigated each other's bodies like gifts they were still not sure if they were allowed to open. And yet they knew each other entirely.

When she'd reached her peak, he'd said, _I can feel you_, and she'd thought: of course. But he meant something else, he said later. Her pleasure a secondary wave going through his body. A tug from his chest to hers, whether she was near or far.

The sweat was still drying on their bodies when Usagi's communicator sounded. They transformed, and as Sailor Moon ran, she noticed she was having no trouble keeping pace with Tuxedo Mask. The senshi were scraped and listless when she arrived. Usagi was weaponless. The moon wand was long gone, her tiara at this point was mere decoration. Yet she felt powerful. She thought of the tenderness she and Mamoru had just shared and it filled her with a feeling of hope, bridging on certainty. Her locket split open. The silver crystal fluttered to life, and a new wand appeared in her hands.

Sailor Moon struck. Koan had been nearly purified before one of her sisters had appeared and taken her.

Luna ran up to Sailor Moon as the senshi gathered themselves. "The power of your love created a new weapon," Luna said. By then, Tuxedo Mask's hand was on Sailor Moon's shoulder. He gave it a conspiratorial squeeze. It wasn't only love...

But that was before Mamoru had decided he no longer wanted to be with her. Before Chibiusa seemed to command his loyalty. Before the thread that seemed to connect their past and future began to fray in her hands.

"I don't want to be obligated to the past," he'd said, pushing her out the door.

* * *

"You're supposed to be sleeping," Mamoru said. He wasn't sure why he let Usako inside. It was hard enough to be away from her – being near her was pure torture. Not to mention, his distance didn't seem to be helping. The princess was down four guardians and the enemy was only getting stronger. But the dreams had been so clear.

"I'm sorry," she said. Her eyes were on the ground. Was she going to plead with him again? He wasn't sure he could take it. Not to mention - if Usako was here, who was watching Chibiusa? The desire he felt to protect the small girl had been overwhelming, almost from the moment he met her. It reminded him of his first nights as Tuxedo Mask, desperate only to protect Sailor Moon.

"Did you leave Chibiusa alone?"

"I have a favor to ask you," Usagi said. Her posture changed in front of him. She took a deep breath, her shoulders back. Her eyes were still watery but she had dammed her tears. He tried to scan for any clue to why she was in his apartment, but she'd put up some kind of block, a wall, in the psychic line between them. He'd been doing it, too, recently, since there was only so much of her longing he could physically take. But as he searched the link now, he was met with an obstinate barrier.

A brush off would have to do. "It's a little late for favors," he said, adding a smirk to his voice. "I'm sure you'll run into me in the morning, you can ask then –"

"I don't have time for that," she said, removing her shoes and pushing past him into his living room. "I'm going to go find the girls. Rubeus told me I have 24 hours. My time is running out." She was taking off her jacket. What, did she think she was staying the night here? She better not get too comfortable...

Then she pulled off her tank top.

She was standing there in a black lacy bra, looking through his sliding glass door into the skyline. Her thumbs hooked into the top of her skirt as if she were ready to rip that off, too.

"What are you doing?" Mamoru whisper-shouted. He could feel his face reddening and he turned his back to her.

"I need you to sleep with me before I go."

Mamoru whipped back around. If nothing else, at least she could say she'd surprised him for once. No crybaby antics. No pining. Just a request for a quick wham bam thank you ma'am so she could ride the high of their sex magic into battle and hopefully beat the bad guys.

"Are you insane?" he asked, picking up her jacket from the floor. He was trying very hard not to stare at her chest, she could tell. To answer, she lowered her skirt to the floor.

"If you think I'm going to let you run straight into an enemy trap -"

"You're not letting me do anything, Mamoru. It's not your responsibility to protect me anymore. You've made that very clear," Usagi said. Mamoru's face fell. It sounded harsh, she knew, and not entirely true. Tuxedo Mask had still been coming to battle and saving her. It had made their break up all the harder. It had given her hope.

But she understood now: saving her was saving the world. It wasn't personal. It certainly wasn't romantic. "I'm asking you to help me. I can walk in there with the power I have now and almost certainly fail. Or you can sleep with me, I can get a power-up, and I might have an actual shot."

It was maybe the most logical battle plan she'd ever formulated, and it was all based on fucking her ex-boyfriend who didn't want anything to do with her. Try explaining that to Luna.

* * *

"No," Mamoru said. "Absolutely not, this is a terrible idea."

Yes, they had both noticed that, in the less-rare-than-one-would-hope occurence that there was a battle right after they'd, er, _copulated_, Sailor Moon did seem oddly more powerful. When she transformed, it was like her brooch could barely contain the power that wanted to come out of it. Sometimes it literally seemed as if she glowed.

They'd never done it on _purpose_. And for her to come here now, after he'd worked so hard to stay away…it would ruin everything.

Logic aside, Mamoru's heart was racing. He was already imagining his hands over Usako's body, the taste of her lips, the little gasps she made as he rocked against her. But the possibility was crowded out by the vision that had been haunting him for months now. Her in a white dress, a hand reached out, screaming his name as she fell into the abyss of a crumbling planet.

His thoughts had kept him silent for long enough that Usako seemed to believe him. Her shoulders keened forward slightly, her arms crossed over her chest. She was bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet, shaking her head. He searched the link again, but nothing. Maybe she was coming to her senses. With a little more time, they could come up with a better plan. They could figure it out, they could -

Usako scooped up her clothes from the floor and powered toward him. "Fuck you, Mamoru Chiba," she said, pushing her finger into his chest. She shoulder checked him as she moved toward the door, knocking him off balance. He'd never seen her so angry. And certainly never so angry and undressed at the same time.

"I know you can barely stand to be around me –" she ranted, pulling on her tank top, lifting the long trails of her ponytails out from underneath it. She was struggling a bit, being so flustered. Mamoru couldn't help but think how adorable she looked, not unlike the way she used to get angry at him in the very beginning, hurling insults at each other. "– but I thought you would at least consider it for the sake of the goddamn _world_ –"

Her anger must have distracted her and the link unlocked. Her feelings came spilling in. As she pulled up her skirt, he could feel her outright despair — _her one hope to save her friends was gone, and now it was clearly a suicide mission. But that was it, she had to try, and if nothing else maybe she could distract the enemy long enough to_ -

Oh God, no. Mamoru couldn't take it. If she was going to get herself killed, what good would staying away do? Was he really going to let her walk into that danger? Without him? Without whatever help he could give her?

He thought of Usako being ripped away out of his arms. He thought of her beautiful face being lost in a sea of rubble. _What if this is it, Mamoru? What if this was the moment the dreams were warning you about? What if it's a test?_ Part of him argued.

_What if it's not?_

She was dressed, still angry, still ranting. She was pulling on her last sneaker, bent over. She stood up, began to slide on her jacket. "It probably wouldn't work anyway, since you don't love me anym–"

But before she could say it, Mamoru's lips were on hers.

* * *

Mamoru had waited until all of Usagi's clothes were back on to start taking them off again. When he'd first kissed her, she'd thought his only intention had been to shut her up, which had made her angrier. She'd hit his chest with her fists and pushed him away, but when she'd looked up to tell him what an _asshole_ he was, she caught his eyes. They'd softened, and they looked scared.

She didn't know what to say, so it was a good thing that Mamoru took off his shirt. The action seemed to override her emotional reasoning, the harm he'd done her, how deeply confused she was about what any of this meant. Instead, her body electrified in response. She pulled him back into a kiss. He wrapped his arms behind her lower back before releasing her enough that she tugged off her jacket again while he unzipped her skirt.

She'd forgotten just how large Mamo's hands were, the warmth of them. She pulled her tank top off and Mamoru reached behind her back to unhook her bra, sliding the straps down her shoulders and throwing the garment to the floor. Usagi reached for his waist belt and unbuttoned it, feeling how hard he'd become already.

She pushed his pants over his hips and they fell to the floor. Their lovemaking had been primarily sweet until now, so Usagi was surprised when he lifted her up and pressed her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist. Endymion had loved to do this too, she remembered. Did Mamoru do it now because of the past, or was it a coincidence? Were there some things too ingrained to be forgotten? She could feel his erection grinding against her. Even if he didn't love her, at least the mechanics would work.

He pulled her from the wall and continued to kiss her as he walked them both to the bedroom. God, his lips felt good. God, she had missed this. How, she wondered, can it feel so good to kiss someone who does not want you?

Mamoru laid her down on the bed and trailed his way down to her thighs, running his teeth gently at her hips. She was already desperate to feel him inside her, her walls clenching in anticipation.

But Mamoru had made a routine of going slow. He kissed along the line of her panties as Usagi squirmed beneath him. He massaged the palm of his hand against her mound, the fabric creating even more friction. He pushed the fabric aside and slipped a finger inside her, curling it and rocking it upward, stroking at her G-spot. Usagi let out a moan, arching her back. She didn't want him to stop. Wanted him to take all the time he wanted. And yet…

"Mamo…" she panted. "I...do have...a world...to save."

He conceded, pushing inside her a few more times before removing his hand and rolling her underwear off her body. He pressed his mouth against her, drawing firm circles around her clit. It was good enough that she could have come right there, but she felt - no, she knew - that they had to come together. And more than that…

* * *

Mamoru was reaching for a condom when Usako stopped his hand. "I've… got it covered," she said.

Mamoru froze. What did that mean? Had she gone on birth control – after they'd broken up? The thought made his whole body tense. Usako reached up and pulled him down to kiss her, shuffling her hips beneath his.

That kiss, though. Her kiss. No, there couldn't be anyone else. So what? What was her meaning? He searched the link for more, but all it seemed to say was, _please, no more questions_.

Hadn't not trusting Usako gotten him into this mess? He hadn't trusted that she was smart. That they could handle it together. Hadn't trusted her with the truth, all of it, from the dreams to his fears to his heartbreak.

Why, when he trusted her more than anyone else in the universe?

He pulled his hand away from the bedside drawer. He looked at the woman he'd loved for millennia. Nothing could be worth losing this for. Maybe he needed to trust that.

He leaned against her entrance. He pushed in.

* * *

Once Mamoru was inside her, Usagi could almost forget that she might be about to die. She could forget that he'd been breaking her heart for months. Forget that she did not, indeed, have a plan without a condom. A trip to the pharmacy, she supposed, if she lived long enough to go to one.

What would Minako call this? Galileo humor?

She even kept forgetting that Mamoru didn't love her anymore. She certainly couldn't tell the difference, the way that he filled her, how intricately he seemed to know what she liked. The tenderness in his pelvis rubbing against hers.

Even his roughness seemed tailored to her pleasure. He flipped her onto her belly, pulling her butt back toward him and entering her again. With each thrust, she let out a deep moan. He grabbed a handful of her ass. Thrust even harder. She began to imagine what it might feel like for him to come inside her.

She felt him pause and pull out again, leaning over her, catching his breath. He was close. She looked at the clock. Only a few hours until the showdown with Rubeus.

"Lay down, Mamo," she said.

* * *

Mamoru was already unsure how much longer he could last when Usako climbed on top of him. Maybe they could just make love until Rubeus's deadline passed, he'd deluded himself, and then they could come up with a better plan?

Instead, Usako was undulating her hips on top of him, her mouth open, her head leaned back. She was clamped around his cock like a vice and he could feel how close she was. He reached his hand out and began to rub circles into her clit, which made her moan. _Yes, Mamo, yes…_

Out of the corner of his eye, Mamoru saw a light turn on in the other room. That's strange, he thought. It was brighter than any light in his house…

He didn't have time to ponder long. The silver crystal floated into the room and hovered just in front of Usako's chest. She hadn't noticed it yet, her eyes still closed. Had this happened before, and they'd both been too caught up to see? It seemed to be flashing at the same cadence as her hips were moving.

Meanwhile, Mamoru was getting _very_ close, strange magic crystal or not. If Usako kept moving like that, he wasn't going to be able to -

Usako gasped. "Mamo, I'm…" she said, and he felt her walls pulsate around him. She was coming, and it was as if her body was begging him to come with her. It was too much. The weeks – months? – he'd tried to stay away, how desperately he longed for her. To touch her. To laugh with her. Here, in this moment, their bodies aching to be one. Mamoru closed his eyes and let go, releasing inside her.

Above him, he felt Usako relax. He was going to tell her. Everything. The dreams. How of course he'd always loved her. How sorry he was.

He was going to tell her. But when he opened his eyes, the crystal was bleating with light, like an alarm. Usako's eyes were focused on it, almost blank. This wasn't right, Mamoru thought and went to say.

But it was too late. Usako reached out and touched the crystal. And in an instant, she had disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: Usagi and Mamoru discover that their intimate moments lead to power-ups for Sailor Moon. When Mamoru breaks up with Usagi and the Senshi are kidnapped, Usagi asks Mamoru for one last time in order to save the world. The crystal, however, has other plans.

* * *

Usagi dreamed it was her and Mamoru's wedding day. She was wearing the most beautiful gown she could imagine. Mamo looked handsome, happy. Her friends were there. They were safe! _I love you, Mamo,_ she was saying.

In an instant, the world blew apart. Boulders of earth flew around her. Mamoru was screaming her name.

"Mamoru Chiba, if you stay with Usagi Tsukino, great harm will befall her," a voice called out.

Usagi awoke with a start. She was still naked. The room around her was pristine white, the sheets that covered her were white. Not hospital white, though - it wasn't sterile. It was… royal. In her fist was the silver crystal, no longer shining like it had been when she was with Mamoru. As it shone, she'd remembered to say a prayer. _I want to save this planet_, she'd wished. _Let me save him_. It was the last thing she could recall.

Was this the Black Moon kingdom? It didn't feel evil enough for that. But if not there, then…?

"Ah," a familiar voice said behind her. "You're awake."

Usagi turned quickly and looked at the pale man in front of her. It was Tuxedo Mask, only… different. The outfit not quite the same.

"Ma...Mamo?" she said.

The man's face startled, then softened. He looked as if he might weep. "It's been a long time since I've heard that name," he said, turning his head to look down at the cane by his side.

To Usagi's eyes, it was unequivocally Tuxedo Mask standing before her. But he was clearly not the Mamoru she had just left behind. He looked more confident, settled, but also wearier. She almost wanted to say older, and yet he looked nearly identical to the Mamoru she knew. His skin was no less smooth, his hair the same shade of midnight.

"What… is this?" Usagi said, still lightly holding the white bed sheet over her body. "I know you're Mamoru, and yet…"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he said, smiling gently. "I haven't seen this version of you in –" His voice hitched. Was he getting emotional?

Tuxedo Mask shook his head, pulled his face back into a smile. "Would you like me to show you around?" He opened his hand toward the door, which was surrounded by intricate sculptures. Usagi could see that it led to an expansive hallway.

"Yes," she said. "It's just…" She lifted the corner of the sheet she was holding a bit.

"Oh, right," Tuxedo Mask said, turning his face again. Beneath the rim of his mask, she could see he was holding back a smile. He lifted his staff and gestured to a large wardrobe against the wall by the foot of the bed. "You'll find clothing in there."

He stepped out of the room. Usagi pulled on a loose, striped T-shirt and a pair of shorts. She hoped being bra-less would not be too noticeable, and made a mental note to wash the shorts before returning them. Borrowing underwear from a woman she hadn't even gotten permission from seemed unforgivably impolite.

She met Tuxedo Mask in the hallway, where again his face seemed to be a mix of giddiness and heartbreak. It was strange to be able to read him so clearly – he was not stoic like the Mamoru she'd left behind. Who must, she realized, be panicking in her absence. And Rubeus -

"Oh god, what day is it?" Usagi said, suddenly looking around as if her surroundings might give her a clue. "I was supposed to confront Rubeus. The girls - he's kidnapped the senshi. If I don't get there -"

"Usako," Tuxedo Mask said, reaching his hand toward her face. She wondered why he wasn't touching her. She went to reach for his hand and realized she could see through him, that his body was not really here. She raised her shocked face to meet his eyes, which were so full of concern. "That's why you're here. He's found you."

"Where is here? Why are you different?" She could feel her heart beating in her chest. She had the impulse to run but found she couldn't move.

"This is 30th century Crystal Tokyo," Tuxedo Mask said, letting his hand fall to his side. His tone turned more formal, as if he were reciting a speech he'd said many times. "I am King Endymion. Or… this is what is left of me." He gestured with his head down the hall. "Come. Let me explain."

* * *

The palace was made of marble and crystal and seemed to go on forever.

"The earth slept for a thousand years before the queen woke it again. We created a new kingdom. People lived long, long lives here in peace. That is, until the Black Moon clan attacked us. In an instant, the queen was wounded and fell into a deep sleep," King Endymion explained. "We managed to protect the palace, but the rest of Crystal Tokyo perished. I often told Chibiusa about the great Sailor Moon when she was young. I imagine that's why she traveled through time to meet you." He smiled.

Usagi was putting the pieces together. "You're Chibiusa's father. The queen… is Chibiusa's mother?" Usagi asked.

The King nodded and continued to speak, but Usagi was reeling. Here she was, standing in front of a hologram of the man she loved, her soul mate, some several hundred years in the future. He was married and had a child. He was _king_. And yet even then, fate had dragged them together. Against his will. Dredging up the past he must have spent centuries detaching from.

What exactly was she here to do, then? Save his wife? Return his daughter? Go back to the past and watch Mamoru turn into this man, this handsome, self-assured, confident king, knowing she would have no part in it?

How cruel fate could be. Perhaps it was what she deserved. She'd chosen to end her own life by a sword so as not to live without him; perhaps the universe did not take that lightly. Perhaps it was determined to make her live without him regardless.

"Usako?"

The nerve of that name. "Don't call me that!" she shouted. Her voice was shaking. "You're married. You have a whole life! You've left me behind. Don't patronize me with pet names."

King Endymion looked dumbfounded. "What do you mean, left you behind?"

Usagi gestured to the room they stood in. "This. Here. Maybe it's been a long time for you, Endymion. Maybe for you it's bygones now. But for me, I'm the girl you've just broken up with in Tokyo. I'm the girl still struggling to understand that the prince I couldn't live without doesn't want me anymore."

Usagi forced herself to take slower, calmer breaths. She was getting too worked up. "I'm sorry. I know for you, that must be a lifetime ago. But I… I should be there now, trying to save the senshi." _Trying to prevent this future. Trying to make you choose me._ "And instead I'm here, and I don't know why."

The King was silent a moment, his head tilted ever so slightly to the left. Usagi tried not to imagine what he might be thinking, how ridiculous he believed her to be.

"Usako… I think you've misunderstood. Who... do you think the queen is?" he asked.

Infuriating. Usagi couldn't help but feel like he was mocking her. "I don't know, Endymion. I don't exactly have a contact list of all the girls you started dating a century in the future."

Endymion laughed. Like a real, honest belly laugh. Usagi felt as if she had just hit him with a balled-up paper test or fallen flat on her face. Apparently one did not grow out of 'jerk.'

"I didn't say her name," Endymion said, rubbing his forehead.

"Sorry?"

"The queen. Her name. That's why you're confused."

"Okay, sure." Usagi didn't really want to know the queen's name, thanks very much. And she very much doubted the queen would want to know that her husband had let her go through her wardrobe. Or that a version of her husband, mere moments ago - in her own timeline, that is - had been stripping her naked. To try to save the world, sure. But still. "What's her name, then?"

"Neo-Queen Serenity," he said, looking at her meaningfully.

"Okay." Usagi said. Rude, really. To write her out of the story entirely, even stealing her former name. "Cool."

"Usako, that's you. In the future. You and I - we're married."

_What?_

Usagi had spent every aching moment trying to convince Mamoru to love her again and failed absolutely. Then she'd tried to learn with live without him, failing again. The sharp edge of their separation hurt too badly to have been a flippant misunderstanding. It had the pain of permanence.

And yet King Endymion, what existed of him, was only inches away from her at this point. Telling her that the future she'd dreamt of existed. The future she'd been trying to release so that she could move on.

If he were actually here, flesh and blood, she would be able to feel the heat radiating off of him. She might be tempted to lean into him, to raise herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him. She might be tempted to believe him.

"That's… not possible," Usagi said.

* * *

"What do you mean?" King Endymion said. He had never in his life known Serenity to doubt their love in any form. She had, quite literally, died for it.

"Like I said, in my timeline, you ended our relationship. You told me it had just been an obligation to the past, one you didn't want to fill anymore," her voice was breaking now, and she deepened it to get the words out. "You told me you didn't love me anymore."

Impossible.

This was a woman he had seen in too many battles to name. He had seen her walk the line between life and death. He'd seen her lose her friends and family and her kingdom. But he had never seen her lose faith quite like this. What in the world happened?

"Usako, I don't know what's occurring in your timeline," he said, tilting his chin down to her, waiting until she looked up at him. "But I am quite sure I have loved you every moment of my life."

And then, the dam broke. Tears began streaming down her face. He wished so badly he could hold her, this woman who had enchanted him so eternally.

"You don't understand," she cried.

"Then tell me."

* * *

So she told him. The battle with Queen Beryl that reset their lives to normalcy for a brief blink of the eye. How he didn't remember her. How, once he remembered, it was like every moment of their relationship came rushing back in. That they were inseparable. That everything felt so, so right.

Until it didn't. That Chibiusa had fallen out of the sky and just like that, Mamoru had fallen out of love with Usagi. How no amount of pleading could bring him back. And then the girls had been taken, and she'd shown up at Mamoru's door asking for his help, and before she knew it, she was here.

"It's ironic, really. Right before I woke up here, I was having a dream about our wedding day. Everyone was there. And just as you were about to kiss me, the whole world blew apart and a voice boomed telling Mamoru not to be with me-"

"...oh."

* * *

The King had not meant to send the dreams. He could only imagine that when Chibiusa traveled through the time gates, some small part of his anguish had gone with her.

Life as a bodiless conscious was difficult. The days blurred together. There was no food to delight you or a breeze to calm you. Not even the full, physical sense of emotions of anguish from being awake to a dead world.

He could not protect his child. His wife was beyond his reach. His life was a perpetual groundhog day, stuck inside a spinning cycle of anxieties. What if there was no future for them? What if Neo Queen Serenity never awoke?

It wasn't long before he found himself reminiscing about their younger years. The battles he and his wife had fought together. The sound of her laughter, their playful banter, walking their daughter in the rain, the way they'd both clung to him in thunderstorms.

The moments of greatest joy, he was learning, could become memories of great sorrow.

In a better mindset, his message might have been: Mamoru, you better not take a single goddamn moment for granted.

But what actually spilled through the timeline and back into his dreams as a younger man was more honest about his state of mind. Maybe if he hadn't loved her so, Serenity would still be up and fighting. Maybe if he hadn't been so unwilling to let her go, she would not be trapped in a crystal tomb. Maybe if he could wind back the clock, erase himself from the picture, he could prevent this terrible, awful thing from happening.

_Mamoru, if you stay with Usagi Tsukino, a great tragedy will befall her._

* * *

Usagi waited for the King to say more, but he did not. She had no idea what he'd meant by "oh." Maybe he'd developed a verbal tic after all this time alone. Maybe it was a glitch in his system. She decided not to press.

Instead, he showed her to the palace headquarters, which featured a 360-computer screen unlike anything Usagi had seen before. He briefed her on what he knew of the Black Moon clan - Diamond's obsession with her, the planet Nemesis that infested in the solar system like a plague, the crystals that powered their fighters.

They were a terrifying clan, Usagi already knew. The more she learned, the more restless she felt about returning. What was Tokyo doing without a single Sailor Senshi?

"King," she said, in the silence after he'd told her everything he knew. "I have to go back. How… how would I do that? How do I travel back in time?"

The King met her eyes. Usagi was shocked at how much she could read on his face. He was not like the Mamoru she knew, guarded and stoic. She watched hurt and confusion play across his features, then determination, then helplessness.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't know. I don't really understand how you got here to begin with. At one time, I might have advised you to go to Pluto –"

"Pluto?"

"A Senshi who guards the gates of time. But the Black Moon's interference has made the time gates even more dangerous than they once were. It's why Small Lady hasn't been able to return."

That wasn't good enough. She couldn't just leave her timeline abandoned, with no one to fight for it. "But what about –"

"There is more bad news, unfortunately. It's quite unlikely that the Silver Crystal of your time will work here, which means it would be impossible to try to attack the Black Moon in this time."

How had he known so quickly what her question had been? And to have it dashed so quickly… "But everyone… my family. The Senshi. Chibusa. Mamoru…" Usagi was beginning to crumble. "I have to save them. I have to go back."

The King was shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't know how you would do that."

No, no, no. There had to be a way. "This timeline – how would it even exist if don't go back?" Usagi asked. That seemed… smart, right? If this future still existed, the past must have been OK. For the past to be OK, she must have gotten home somehow.

The King let out a large sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "Time is… strange. I've spent years discussing it with Pluto and there still seems to be very little in the way of rules. While disturbances in the past can affect the future, sometimes they just… don't. Which is perhaps why I don't remember the break up you're experiencing, and why I have no memory of Chibiusa visiting me as a young man myself."

Of all the moments in the universe for information to be lacking, it had to be with time? Usagi had somehow managed to orgasm her way through nearly a thousand years of time and space. But nobody's figured out the _rules_ yet?

As her frustration simmered, she also began to realize she couldn't just repeat what had worked before. Sex with Mamoru had gotten her here, but the man standing in front of her wasn't even corporeal. Even if she tried to imagine sleeping with some far-distant version of Endymion, she couldn't. There was nothing to touch.

Everyone she loved was going to die, far away in the past, and there was, seemingly, nothing she could do. Was this… was this how Tokyo ended? Was this the fight Sailor Moon couldn't win? The idea was crushing.

But Usagi could see that the King wasn't done. "What I can say," King Endymion said, thinking aloud, "is that if we did find a way to send you back in time, there seems to be no reason why you couldn't go back to exactly the moment you left."

Usagi didn't follow. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that, if we can find a way to send you back, nothing will have changed. Even if you'd been here for days, weeks, months, y-" King Endymion stopped when he saw Usagi's face shade with horror. "However long you were here, we could send you back to the moment you left. You'd still be just a few hours before your battle with Rubeus."

"I could still save the Senshi," Usagi breathed.

"Yes."

* * *

Thank you kindly for the reviews so far! I'd love to hear more about what you think of the story. This section was plot-heavy but there is more lemon-y goodness to come.


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: Usagi and Mamoru discover that their intimate moments lead to power-ups for Sailor Moon. When Mamoru breaks up with Usagi and the Senshi are kidnapped, Usagi asks Mamoru for one last time in order to save the world. The crystal, however, has other plans.

* * *

When you're stuck in an apocalyptic future for an indeterminate amount of time with the living ghost of your ex-boyfriend future-husband, there are a surprising amount of things you can do to pass the time.

Talking, for example, which - when you have hundreds of years to catch up on - comes easily. Or chess, which Mamoru had never been fully able to teach her. Now, since time was not an issue, they practiced again and again until Usagi had fully memorized the movements of each piece.

There was a library of manga, past and future, for her to sort through. It was displayed in the same room as the encyclopedic history books that she assumed King Endymion had collected, and texts about science and math, even some intimidating-looking fiction books. But the manga had a whole section all to itself, as if to prove a point. She spent full days powering through series after series, laughing and weeping while the King read begrudgingly over her shoulder, unable to flip the pages of a book he would be more compelled by.

King Endymion even let slip that the palace's headquarters could be transformed into a full virtual reality video game. Usagi begged and begged until he let her try it, waving a joystick around in the air and crashing against the ground when an enemy (or, let's be real, a hyper-realistic tree) startled her.

When they grew bored of games, they walked the corridors of the palace. The King explained the function of each room, where meetings were held and dignitaries stayed and Chibiusa was known to hide. In some places the hallways ended abruptly. "The palace you're walking through is just a fraction of what existed," he explained. "One could call it a war bunker. There used to be a sunroom and gardens -" he pointed to where a grey, icy wall now stood "- and at the other end of the hall was a ballroom."

The abrupt barriers felt haunted, and Usagi did not like to linger near them for too long. "What triggered the lockdown?" Usagi asked.

"The Queen," Endymion said. "She rarely left the palace. It was designed that way - for her to have everything she wanted. There was even a market where she could get all the curry rice and ice cream she could dream of." All this time, Usagi had struggled to imagine that she could ever be a queen. But if there would be curry and rice involved...

Endymion paused, his eyes looking into a far off corner. "She left the palace that day. And that was when she was attacked. The crystal protected her but trapped her, too. The defense system immediately transported her to the center of the palace and shut down everything but the essential rooms."

A palace you didn't leave. A home and a state of the art defense system, both. What had they been preparing for? It seemed catastrophic. Flaky as she was, Usagi couldn't imagine doing something so risky like leaving a carefully-constructed fortress. "Why did she leave?" she asked.

"We don't know." Endymion said. It was clear that it still hurt him. Which hurt more - that she left, or that he didn't know why - Usagi wasn't sure.

* * *

While Usagi slept, the King studied time travel research, trying to find a way to get Usagi home. Usagi knew she would be of no use at that - she'd never even watched science fiction movies, let alone understood the complicated mathematics that structured the universe.

Mostly, when Usagi was awake, they talked. While he told her the basic facts of how the ruin of Crystal Tokyo had come to pass, the King was careful not to let important information slip, and Usagi tried not to press. He did let smaller things slide - he had stopped drinking coffee, even before his bodilessness, and switched to hot cocoa. He had finally gotten rid of the green jacket. He'd once shaved his head on a dare and her future self had been so distraught that the crystal had restored it.

In the future, he said, she was elegant and poised. She was well-loved by the people of Crystal Tokyo. She had started to like carrots.

"No way!" Usagi yelled.

He laughed. "Okay, okay, I made that one up."

Often, the conversation was lighthearted, and the memories cheered the King. Usagi got the impression he hadn't had anyone to speak to in a long time, and the stories came spilling out of him. He was so unlike Mamoru in this way. Eager for her attention, hanging on her every word, no matter how loud or excitable it was.

And yet he still felt nearly identical to Mamoru. The differences were so slight. He felt like Mamoru on the very best days. The days when he was happy to see her, and thoughtful and present and _fun_. Not haunted demons he refused to share.

"Is it hard to be a hologram, Mamo?" Usagi asked him once, after a day of wandering. He was standing next to her bedroom door as she took her hair down and set the pins on the wardrobe. "Does it hurt?"

"No, Usako," he said. But his face said differently. "It's… the opposite of hurting. It feels hollow in a way that is difficult to convey."

"Can you try?" she asked, moving closer to him. She watched his eyes follow her hair down to the floor and trace their way up her body again. She saw him do this sometimes, as if he were trying to memorize her for a moment when she wasn't there.

The King nodded. "Think of… think of the last time you cried, Usako." She blinked, before realizing he was serious. She closed her eyes and brought a memory to mind - the first night after she'd arrived, as she was wrapping her head around the impossible circumstances she was in. "Where did it start first, the tears?" he asked.

Usagi thought a moment, trying to conjure the first moments of her sorrow. "My chest. Just below the ribs."

"And then where did it go?"

"My throat. It got tighter. And then behind my eyes."

The King smiled, and reached his hand out to cup her face, though Usagi felt nothing. "We feel most of sadness in our body, Usako, not in our mind. It's... physical." He dropped his hand back to his side. "The same is true for happiness."

Even without a body, the memories did seemed to hurt him sometimes. Like when Usagi asked if the Senshi had ever gotten married. Or if they stayed in touch with Motoki, and what happened to the Arcade? Usagi had become so accustomed to his openness that when he went silent in these moments, it scared her. Mamoru had done this to her all the time, and yet with the King it felt more pointed. After he drifted off when she asked about Motoki, the silence bothered her so much that she said aloud, "Ow."

"Ow?"

She nodded, blushing. "It's hard when you go quiet."

Usagi was becoming freer with these statements. King Endymion was steady in a way she'd never experienced with Mamoru. He didn't seem to get annoyed with her. He didn't run from the room when she said something embarrassing. He didn't pretend not to hear her. Ignoring her did seem a bit pointless, them being the last two conscious minds on the planet.

But it was more than that. He looked at her with a cracked-wide, boyish kind of devotion. It was so earnest that she sometimes didn't know what to do with it.

"Ow is a good word for it," he said. "The hard memories."

Usagi nodded. "Okay," she said. "You can say that from now on. The ones you don't want to talk about. Ow."

* * *

There was one part of the palace that Endymion did not want her to see: the room where the Queen's body was kept.

"I'm not sure what it would do to the timeline to have you both in the same room," he told her as they stood outside the door. "And… I think it would hurt too much."

Usagi was curious, certainly, but she understood. If she were able to meet the Queen, she would have so many questions. Did the fighting ever get easier? Did she ever get to be a normal girl?

She could ask the King, but it wouldn't be the same. No, the Queen would know exactly what to say. How to put the deepest, truest anxieties she had at rest.

_Do we ever get to be happy?_

* * *

It had been several weeks. Maybe a month even. They'd walked the palace until Usagi was sure she had it memorized, every corner of every room and half the memories that the King had shared about them. She'd played and beaten the headquarter's video game twice. She'd worn every outfit in her future wardrobe. Was there laundry in Armageddon? She wondered.

Which is perhaps why she was irritable and acting somewhat like a child. She lay on the floor of the headquarters and moaned, whining. "I'm bored," she said.

"Yes, it does tend to get that way," the King said, skimming through computer reports about the Black Moon.

"Isn't there anything else fun to do?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

Usagi flopped over onto her stomach, her hair draping over her shoulders. "Ugh. I don't know how she managed to stand it."

"Pardon?" The King said, the screen still scrolling.

"The Queen. Never going out, being stuck inside all the time. It's like being in jail -" Usagi put her hand over her mouth. The King had gone very still. "Oh I'm - I'm sorry, I didn't mean -"

His shoulders were rigid. She could tell he was trying to calm himself. Fuck. She'd really stuck her foot in her mouth. What if he just, poof, decided to disappear right now? He could run from her in a way that no one else could. She would be alone in this castle with no way home, and no company. She would lose him again, and it would be entirely her fault -

"I am also frustrated, Usagi," he said, masking his anger. He tilted his head to look up at a simulation of the stars.

Oof. Usagi. She'd gotten used to Usako. But at least he was talking.

"I still wish I understood how you got here. If we knew that, we might be able to copy it somehow. Or reverse it." He sighed, his chin falling to his chest.

"Sex magic," Usagi whispered, loud enough for him to hear. The King turned his head to her, his eyes full of surprise. "Mamoru… I'd asked him to sleep with me before the battle with Rubeus. For a power up, I mean. We were broken up but… He said no at first. I still don't understand why he changed his mind. But we'd just, um -" why did she feel so bashful? It's not as if the King was unfamiliar. "Finished. And the crystal was going wild, and before I knew it, I was here."

The King was quiet. Surely he knew about the sex magic - she and Mamoru had discovered it the first time they'd been together. Or was that another glitch in time?

"What did you pray for, Usagi, when the crystal was glowing?" the King asked quietly, his gaze turning toward the floor.

"To save the world, obviously. Like always." Usagi said. She wasn't sure the point of his question. It's not like she'd wished to travel to a future she didn't know existed.

"And nothing else? That was it?"

"Ah.. well, it was something like, to save the world," she said, pushing herself up to a seat. She tried to remember her exact thoughts. "And I was thinking about Mamoru, in particular - wanting to save him."

"Fuck."

Usagi hadn't heard the King swear before. Hell, even Mamoru typically kept his language to an errant _damn_ in only the most pressing situations. It startled her. What was he reacting to? Oh God - did he think she was going to make him sleep with her? "Obviously that's not something we can do anything about," Usagi said, trying to be clear, although she was also offended, if she were honest. Like it would be the worst thing to happen to him in this barren future. "You don't have a body. Not exactly like we can -"

"What? No. Usagi - that's not…" he trailed off. "Your prayer to save Mamoru. It brought you here."

"I don't know why it would do that."

"The crystal sometimes has a mind of its own." Yeah, OK. She really didn't need an explanation about how her own crystal worked, thanks. Usagi through about arguing, but the King was looking at her as if he were weighing whether to say something. She pressed her lips together and bit down to keep herself quiet.

After a few moments, he spoke. "I am... alive, Usagi. That's how I'm able to project my consciousness. My body was badly wounded, and with the Queen incapacitated, there was no way for me to heal," King Endymion said, speaking slowly. "The palace put me on a kind of life support. The Senshi, too, are unconscious but using their powers to protect this place."

He… was in this building? Why hadn't he said so? "Wait, but doesn't that mean -"

"It doesn't mean anything, Usagi."

That was ridiculous! The fact that his body was here meant there might be a chance she could put him back together, that he wouldn't have to feel hollow anymore. "But what if I could help you? Maybe my crystal would be just strong enough to heal you, and then you could be in your body again."

He slammed his fist against the computer console. "And what? Continue to wander the palace, but be open to even further attack? Get old, waiting for the Queen to one day wake up?"

The King was angry, Usagi knew, and for reasons she didn't entirely understand. She wondered if he were about to order her from the room, or would finally vanish, the way that Mamoru sometimes did. But he didn't. He sat there, spinning his staff in his hand, puzzling through something he wouldn't share.

After a handful of minutes, Usagi had to ask the question that was nagging at her. "Did you and the Queen ever use it?"

"It?"

"The… sex magic thing. Do you know what I'm talking about? Is that something you… tried?"

Was it possible for a hologram to blush? If so, the King was turning red. "Yes," he said, still not looking at her.

"Okay!" This was _good_. Maybe there was something they could learn from it. "So you know how it works, then? Is that something that happens for all Senshi? Does you being the Prince of Earth have anything to do with it? Why did it give me powers other times, but send me to the future this time?"

"Ah… spoilers," the King said. Her question must have disarmed his anger, because now he was smirking as he leaned against the console.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," he said, mimicking her voice. OK, touché. Apparently he got snarky when he was agitated. He seemed to catch himself and soften again. "Except for your last question. That's not really a question you have. I think you know why."

Now Usagi blushed. So… it had made a difference, having Mamoru not use protection.

"It's powerful stuff, that magic. Ancient. Not to be taken lightly." The King was standing now, looking at the ground out in front of him. "I think it's time you got some sleep. I would like to continue my research."

Usagi understood that she was being dismissed. She picked herself off the floor and walked to the door, pausing to look back at him. He was already lost in his calculations.

* * *

In her room, Usagi undressed and slipped under the covers on the grand bed. Her situation had changed. The King was here, alive, in a room somewhere. Both his body and his mind were suffering. She had not tried to use the crystal in this time yet, but in her own time, she had often healed people with her powers. If she were able to heal the King, she would not have to speak to a hologram any longer. He would be here, in the flesh.

And if she were able to touch the King, that meant that she and he could, perhaps...

Shouldn't the thought feel like a betrayal? He was not the Mamoru she knew, the one she was familiar with touching. In many ways, the King was a stranger, someone who had memories she was not a part of, a life of experiences she couldn't understand. Not yet.

But it did not feel like a betrayal. It seemed… certain. Mundane in its simplicity. A continuation of the path they were already on.

Her own Mamoru was still in the past, frozen in time, awaiting her return without knowing it. Or perhaps trying to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Or living out an entirely new life. It was hard to understand how time worked, exactly. Were there new timelines constantly being created for each choice made differently, each possible version of events?

And if she didn't have that answer, should she hold on to a propriety that no longer felt true? For once, the chasm between right and wrong did not present itself to her.

There was only the feeling of the inevitable.

* * *

The next morning, when Usagi left her room, King Endymion was waiting for her. "I think it's time for you to speak with Pluto," he said.

He led her to a room they had passed many times, but this time there was something new - a door that hadn't been there before against the far wall.

"She's waiting for you."

* * *

The moment Usagi stepped through the door, she was surrounded by space-time itself. A bit like the starry space she'd seen up close during battle on a comet, a bit like nothingness. She was not floating and yet there was no solid ground beneath her. She breathed and yet there was no air, not the slightest hint of a breeze.

"Princess."

Usagi turned to see a regal guardian with long, emerald green hair. She was taller than Jupiter, more composed than Mars. She was not like the Senshi of Earth, she could tell in an instant. She was more omniscient and hardened. More lonely.

The Senshi of spacetime bowed. "I understand you have some questions."

Usagi caught herself tempted to bow in return, but instead straightened her posture. "You must know that I'm not from this time," Usagi said. She remembered that Pluto may not know which time she was referring to. "30th century, I mean. I'm from 20th century Tokyo. I've been… misplaced in time."

"Yes." Pluto gazed so steadily at Usagi that she wondered if Pluto knew every intimate detail of what had brought her here.

"I… I am trying to get home. There's a battle - the Senshi of my time have been caught by the Black Moon. I need to return, urgently." Usagi waited for Pluto to say something, but she did not. "And… I had hoped you might know how to do that?"

"I see." Pluto twisted the garnet rod in her hand. "I believe King Endymion has already explained the state that the Time Gate is in."

"Yes, but -"

"And that it is too dangerous to travel that way at present."

"Right -"

"In fact, it's quite a miracle that the Black Moon has not noticed your absence. They have been traveling quite freely in time, disrupting events all along the way. If they knew you were here, you would be in imminent peril." Usagi waited for her to say more. "I am afraid I can't help you."

Usagi nodded, and they were silent for several minutes as Usagi tried to formulate the other question on her mind.

"Pluto… is there a way… without the Time Gates…?" Usagi tried. "I traveled here without a time key, I mean. Is it possible I might be able to return in the same way? Or would that be a… strain, on the timeline?"

Pluto, for all her coolness, seemed to be taken aback that Usagi had asked so precisely.

"You travel here did not seem to cause any further damage to spacetime, no." She said. "The crystal is the closest thing to infinite power in the universe, and it bends to Serenity's desire. But they cannot be flippant, half-hearted wishes. It feeds on her energy. The might of her longing is what sets it alight."

It was what Usagi wanted to hear, yes, but it also meant that her question of faithfulness may be fully up to bat. To get home, she would have to be intimate with the King. The infinity of their connection could be enough to let her travel back to her own time.

There was no betrayal here. The King was Mamoru, a version of him. Usagi felt that in her bones.

But would Mamoru see it that way? And would it matter, given that he had already chosen to separate from her? Could the choice to be with the King drive them even further apart?

And the Queen… Usagi had not even stopped to think of her, not really. She was presently entombed. Her home was being haunted by the girl she used to be. Usagi could only assume she would understand. That they were in no true competition. That the King was devoted to her.

But she didn't know that for sure.

Just as Usagi's mind began to spiral, Pluto spoke. "Time does not exist in the way most people perceive it," Pluto began. "It folds in on itself. It goes back and forth, circular, repeating. There is less difference between Crystal Tokyo and the Tokyo of your time than you might imagine. At least on an eternal scale."

"But it could affect the future, couldn't it? And the past, too. I could mess everything up. Irreversibly."

"The past and the future are always in conversation with each other, Princess.."

"Are you saying that if I King Endymion and I were together… it will all turn out OK?"

There was a glint in Pluto's eye. She seemed to enjoy Usagi's frankness.

"Forgive me, Princess. I meant no such direct comment. I am simply saying that time is complex. To touch the future and the past puts one in a unique perspective."

* * *

"Was she able to provide anything useful?" King Endymion asked as Usagi stepped back through the door.

"The Gates of Time are still too unstable, and are unlikely to improve until the Black Moon clan has been defeated," Usagi said. Endymion lowered his head. "And that the past and future are always in conversation with each other, and that certain truths are more eternal than we might expect."

The King sighed. "Yes. I thought she might say that." The King seemed defeated, and Usagi knew he was already anticipating the question she had prepared for him.

"I would never make you do something you were unwilling to do," Usagi tried.

"I know that," the King said softly.

"But I am asking - for the sake of both of our timelines -" There was a power in Usagi's voice she hadn't heard there before. She'd heard in Mars and Venus when they commanded the Senshi, but never in her own. Was this a window into how the Queen sounded? And yet she found she couldn't finish the question. It hung in the air between them.

The King was pensieve for a moment, then looked up at her. "Well. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First you would have to wake me up. And with the crystal out of sync, that seems -"

"Yes."

The King turned and began to walk back toward the hallway. Usagi followed him. "And if - and it's a very big _if -_ you do manage to wake me, it seems to be a leap to expect that the Crystal could summon the kind of power you'd require."

"Yes."

"But," the King said, turning to her. "You may try."

Usagi wished again that she could touch him and lean her head against his chest. She began to softly cry. "Thank you."

* * *

The room was circular and made of a dark concrete. There were many chambers there. The door the King wanted to keep her from had not been just a door to the Queen - it had been a door to all of them. The senshi, the King, the people most important to the future palace.

Usagi realized she was standing in a tomb for the living.

In one carved spot for a chamber was instead a long passage. There was a faint glow coming from the end of it. Usagi felt herself being pulled toward it, but Endymion caught her attention.

"That is where the Queen rests," he said. "We've already discussed why that isn't a good idea. My body is through here."

'Here' was the chamber to the left of the Queen. Usagi approached the door, but there was no handle, and there appeared to be no edges.

"A security system," the King explained. "It needs to identify you. Press your hand against the wall."

Usagi lifted her hand and pressed her palm to the cool concrete. For a moment, nothing happened. Then she felt an alarm go through her body. Her energy began to glow. The crescent mark on her forehead flared to life. It only lasted briefly, and when it was over, the wall receded and slid to the side.

It took Usagi a breath to feel at home in her body again. When she did, she took in the room before her. It was not much larger than a closet, with a single, hard rock rectangle raised from the ground forming an island. There was enough space for a single person to walk around the edges of the platform.

On the stone table was a body. The body of King Endymion.

* * *

King Endymion himself was very quiet as Usagi moved toward his body. He did not look so terrible. There was no blood, no obvious wounds. His eyes were closed in a way that could almost be described as peaceful. He was pale. That was about the only physical change Usagi could see.

"I thought you said you were injured?" Usagi asked, examining his body, still not ready to touch him.

"Yes."

"I don't see any cuts or bruises."

"It is not that kind of injury," the King spoke gently, his voice becoming strained. "When you touch him… me… I would ask you to brace yourself."

Usagi felt for the crystal, which was attached to a chain around her neck.

She lifted her hands above his arm and took a breath, closing her eyes. She tried to find the hum that connected her to the crystal. She focused. _Hum_. She lowered her hands against Mamoru's cold, clammy arm.

* * *

It was as if his entire body was screaming, and Usagi could feel everything. Each pore was aflame. Each heartbeat an excruciating thud. She could hear him yelling things over and over, a kind of madman chant. It was indecipherable.

How could he stand it? Usagi wanted so desperately to escape, to run in the other direction. But in front of her was the man she loved, the world around him on fire. He was pacing back and forth, his head and shoulders bobbing and rocking to soothe what could not be soothed.

"Mamoru - it's me, Usagi." The man in front of her turned, his eyes wide, too wide. He was shaking with an energy she didn't understand. "Remember? It's me -"

He rushed at her and grabbed her by the throat. Her hands wrapped around his wrist and she tried not to panic, the breath being squeezed out of her. Mamoru's eyes were still impossibly wide, and now she could see they were fully black.

Oh God, Mamoru. What have they done to you? She was slowly losing consciousness. How was this possible, this kind of torture? She wasn't even really here. She was standing next to his body. So why did she feel like she was dying?

"Ma -" she tried, "mo...ru…" Her voice was raspy. There was no use. Tears were leaking from her eyes, and she was seeing black spots.

A light began to emanate from her chest. _The crystal_. It was working, even here. Mamoru's grip loosened around her neck, and soon he was covering his face, trying to block the light. The crystal persisted, and Usagi focused. _Save him. Save Mamoru._

She watched his eyes clear. They looked confused.

"U… Usagi?"

The flames around them shot even higher. The world was beginning to crumble. It was not pleased to have lost its victim, Usagi could see. Now it wanted to destroy them both.

Not today, hell flames. Usagi grabbed Mamoru's hands and ran in the opposite direction. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew they had to move. Then, it was just a whisper, it was almost as if she could hear someone speaking -

"They don't hurt you by hurting you, Usako. They get inside you. They twist everything. They make you hate the things you love."

It was the King's voice, and Usagi was running toward it, Mamoru's hand in hers as she pulled him with all her might. A white light was in front of her, and she reached -

* * *

She was back in the chamber. She was panting.

"Usako?"

The voice was coming from below her and she turned to face it. The King was looking at her from the stone table. He was not so pale anymore. She was still holding on to his arm. It was warm.

Had she done it? Had she returned the King to his body?

She looked around the room. The hologram was gone.

* * *

AN: I thought about making this two chapters, but it's been a while since I posted, so I figured I would deliver both as one. Thank you so kindly for the reviews so far. There are currently 19 favorites and 42 follows for this story - that's so awesome!

I would so love to hear from as many of you who are reading as possible. What element of the story is most intriguing to you? Can you deal with the slow burn or are you ready for them to be naked again? If there were another moment in any season of Sailor Moon with a Sex Magic component, what would you want it to be?

Your reviews/thoughts/comments definitely keep me motivated!


	4. Chapter 4

Summary: Usagi and Mamoru discover that their intimate moments lead to power-ups for Sailor Moon. When Mamoru breaks up with Usagi and the Senshi are kidnapped, Usagi asks Mamoru for one last time in order to save the world. The crystal, however, has other plans.

* * *

The King was slow to move from the stone table. His body was weak from lack of use, and he leaned against Usagi heavily as she led them back through the palace. They had to stop for him to sit many times, and other than heavy breathing he said very little.

It was an impossibly peculiar feeling to be with the King in the flesh. Usagi had the sensation that she was meeting him for the first time, though it couldn't be further from the truth. She felt almost… bashful? She tried not to think too deeply about the way her body reacted to his, the warmth of his torso against hers as she braced him while they walked.

They were mere feet from the bedroom that Usagi had been staying in since she'd arrived, but they had taken another break. He was sitting on a bench-like carving in the wall and laid his head back. He was rested for longer than normal, and Usagi started to get worried.

"Are you OK? Are you in pain?" she asked, running her hands around his wrist, feeling for his pulse.

The King shook his head, clearly finding her concern overbearing. "Honestly? I'm really hungry." He was smiling at her, almost laughing.

Usagi's stomach growled. Wait — was he _teasing_ her?

"Is the link so strong in the future that you can literally feel when I'm _hungry_?" Usagi asked, dropping his wrist.

"Well. I've had some practice," he said, arching his back and wincing a bit at the cracks that followed. "Also, I really am hungry. Any chance you could grab us some food?"

Usagi left him sitting while she went through the kitchen she'd been ransacking since her arrival. There were packages of ramen and dried fruits and vegetables, rations of powders that smelled like chalk, vitamins, dehydrated camping meals. And oh god, the packaged candies and cookies and chocolates, which Usagi had made a noticeable dent in. They could live here for several years on the stockpiles if her tastebuds didn't die of boredom first.

She returned with crackers and jerky and fruit leather, which was essentially a round meal, as far as she was concerned. The King ate it enthusiastically, and it was the first time Usagi could imagine what it was like for other people to watch _her_ eat a particularly delicious treat. The King even eyed Usagi's fruit leather, which she graciously (if she did say so herself) shared.

When he was finished, he looked at the bedroom across from them. "Okay. The target is the couch."

Usagi nodded. "Got it," she said, standing up. "We can take another break there and then get you to the bed."

The King was quiet. "Ready?" Usagi said.

"Usako… it might take me a while." The King said, as Usagi lowered herself into a squat to brace for his weight.

"I know. We'll go slow, just like we've been doing," she said.

"No, I mean… I think I should probably stay on the couch, for the time being."

Usagi was puzzled, and then slowly it dawned on her that the King was talking about the second part of their plan. The part where they tried to activate the sex magic that had brought her here in the first place. "Oh."

"I'm sorry. I know you're eager to get home, but I just… need some time."

Usagi shook her head. "Sorry, no can do, King Mamo." She put her arm around his back and his shoulder under his armpit, helping him to stand. "You spent the last who-knows-how-long sleeping on a stone slab. You're definitely sleeping on a real bed tonight."

"Usako…"

"_I_ will sleep on the couch," she said, hoisting him up. "I'm starting to get spoiled by the royal pillows anyway."

* * *

And so that's what they did for the first few nights. King Endymion slept in the bed, taking nervous glances at Usagi as she tucked into the couch. During the day, Usagi ran around the palace collecting books and trinkets the King wanted, including the staff she'd seen him carrying as a hologram and a wheeled cart that worked as a makeshift walker. He threw himself into getting mobile again, doing movements that seemed sweetly meager but which Usagi knew required every ounce of his strength.

As she watched him, Usagi couldn't help but wonder: Did her own Mamo work out? He'd always been strong and fast and graceful, but besides the occasional run, she'd never thought about how he'd gotten that way. She'd assumed it was Tuxedo Mask magic, but Usagi literally had one of the strongest crystals in the universe and she still got out of breath running to school every day, so...

The King _did_ seem to have some kind of outside help, though, because after a few days he was walking around the castle. The healing powers of the Golden Crystal were not to be underestimated, she realized, even if they hadn't been strong enough to ward off the Black Moon's curse in his body.

On the sixth day since the King had been made whole again, Usagi was running to tell him something and tripped over her own feet. She braced for the floor, and instead found herself wrapped in the King's arms. He pulled her back to standing.

"I guess you're officially back, then," Usagi said.

The King smiled.

* * *

How are you supposed to flirt with your ex-boyfriend future-husband? How do you get them to kiss you, or to run their fingers across your bare skin, or to take their present-wife's clothes off their past-girlfriend's body?

Much to Usagi's luck, chance had a hand in it. The night after the King caught her mid-trip, a thunderstorm rolled in. Even a decimated earth was subject to weather patterns, it seemed. The King was already in bed (he had insisted several times that they switch places, and she had refused) and Usagi was unclipping her bra underneath a nightdress when the first thunderclap sounded.

Her body tensed and she closed her eyes, trying to steady her breath. It was a silly fear, she knew, and yet she could not shake it. _Inhale, one, two, three, four._ The only thing that had ever calmed her was Mamoru, his arms wrapped around her, the safest place she'd ever known.

"Usako?" The King called from the bed.

"It's fine, it's fine. Just a little thunder," she replied. Her voice was shaky, and her muscles were beginning to freeze on her. She lowered the bra straps off her shoulders stiffly and let the contraption fall to the floor. It had been several seconds since the last thunderclap. Maybe the storm was brief. She took a few steps toward the couch and reached down to grab her blanket.

Another thunderclap. Usagi's fist clenched around the blanket and her body stiffened, tears threatening her eyes. _Be strong, Usagi_. _Exhale, one, two, three, four…_

When the next thunderclap sounded, Usagi let out a small yelp, and in an instant, felt Endymion touch her wrist and lower her blanket back to the couch. He ran his hands up her arms, still clenched tight. "Usako," he said. "Come to bed."

* * *

They didn't do anything that first night. Usagi lay next to the King and he held her, running his fingers through her hair. She breathed him in and marveled at how a person could still smell the same after centuries. It was the best smell in the world to her, like home and safety and thrill all wrapped into one. She felt her body relax and it didn't take long before she was fast asleep.

It went unspoken between them that she would sleep next to him the next night and the night after that. The fourth night on the same mattress, they got into bed and spent a few hours talking, Usagi ran her nails gently along the King's arms. He told her about college, how he still had some of the books he'd studied in school. He talked about the patients he'd had as a doctor before the rise of Crystal Tokyo. He told her about how scared he'd been the day they brought Chibiusa home, afraid he wouldn't be able to parent their child after having no memory of parents himself.

"I'm sure you're a wonderful father, Mamo," Usagi said.

"You know what you did that helped, Usako?" he asked. Usagi waited. "You fell asleep. The moment we got home with her, you passed out on the couch and slept for hours and hours." He laughed to himself. "But it was great. A crash course in being a dad. I changed her diaper and started learning what her little noises meant and how to hold her. By the time you woke up, we were bonded for life."

"She's like that with Mamoru, too. She's been a bit of a brat in my timeline if I'm honest," Usagi said, turning onto her back and looking at the ceiling.

"Yes, well. You spoil her rotten in the future," the King said.

"Oh, so it's just me, hmm? I'm sure you have nothing to do with it," she'd rolled over and leaned her face closer to his, taunting him, and then realized what she'd done. She was close enough to feel his breath on her skin, but she couldn't. He was holding it, eyeing her lips. Usagi's chest was beating loudly in her chest.

It hurt her to be so close to him and pretend they were shy strangers, just learning each other. It had to hurt for him, too. But she couldn't bring herself to give him a break or be the first one to make a move. She had to be sure he was ready, she had to -

"Damn," he said, and then crashed against her. His lips pressed firmly against hers as he wound his arm around her waist. Her fingers reflexively jumped into her hair, pulling him closer to her.

God, why did it have to be like this? So fully right, so perfectly alive. Kissing King Endymion felt like kissing Mamoru felt like kissing Prince Endymion a thousand years ago. But this King _loved_ her. If not her, a version of her, whom he loved so fully that he attended to her every thought with consideration.

Which is perhaps why Usagi began to cry, his teeth pulling gently on her bottom lip, his body pressed against hers. This was a love that didn't belong to her. Whatever the future queen had done to deserve it, Usagi hadn't done it yet. Usagi's Mamoru had revoked his love like a gift she'd handled too poorly, and Usagi had no idea how to make it right. This — this man, the one holding her right now — was all she'd ever wanted. But it wasn't really hers.

As Usagi's tears increased, King Endymion pulled away. He kept one arm beneath her, hugging her tightly, and raise the other hand to her cheek.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping at her wet face.

"Usako, what's wrong?" He looked afraid.

"It's just…" she shook her head. "It's not like this in my timeline. And I don't know what she did differently, or better." Her voice was high and quiet now, almost a whisper. "Why you love her and he doesn't love me."

She expected him to pull away, she supposed. To bring up another version of him like that, to bring up his wife — what else was there to do but retreat?

But instead, he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her into his chest in a hug. They lay there like that for a few moments, Usagi breathing him in.

He put his lips to the top of her head. "Usako… I think I know why Mamoru broke up with you in the past."

"He told me why," Usagi said, muffled a bit by his shirt. She didn't especially want to talk about it. It wasn't the happiest memory, her scrunched into a telephone booth sobbing. "He didn't want to be obligated to our history together. He didn't love me like Endymion loved Serenity. I wasn't mature like her, or strong."

"No, Usako -"

She pulled away and slowly sat up in the bed, her hands in her lap. "I know it turns out differently in this timeline, Mamo. I know we're together here. But Pluto said that changing the past doesn't always change the future. It's entirely possible that the Mamoru in my time feels differently than you do."

The King propped himself up on an arm and brought his head level to hers. She had always liked this about his stature, how small he made her feel. "Usako, I want to be very clear," he lightly gripped her face, turning it toward him. "There is no timeline in which I am not madly in love with you."

Their faces were very close, and Usagi could feel his breath on her lips. Was he going to kiss her again? She leaned a little closer -

"No. I have to tell you something first." Usagi pulled back a few inches. He was staring at her intently, then looked away. "It's my fault. Mamoru broke up with you because I sent… dreams… to him. Telling him to stay away."

Usagi didn't understand. Wait… dreams? "Were they of our wedding? The dreams?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I think so. I didn't really mean to send them. I was angry and heartbroken, and when Chibiusa went back to the past, I think they went with her. Mamoru's - my - empathic abilities might have picked them up from Chibiusa, and they've just been echoing in the past, taunting him." The King shook his head. "I think that's the dream you told me about. I think it appeared to Mamoru in the past."

Usagi thought of the dream she'd had when she first arrived. It was their wedding day. They looked so happy, and then a voice called out telling Mamoru he would lead to Usagi's demise. A voice, she realized, that sounded very much like Endymion's.

Suddenly, she was furious.

_It wasn't his fault_, Usagi tried to tell herself. King Endymion hadn't sent them on purpose, and yet he was the cause. But if King Endymion was right about the dreams, Mamoru had just accepted them. Accepted a voice in his head, a dream, as an unavoidable premonition. He'd pulled away from her and lied about why. He'd believed in her so little that he thought it was better to lie and be apart than to trust her with the truth.

What the _fuck_ was with these men? As if she hadn't saved the world a dozen times over. As if she hadn't made what she wanted so incredibly clear.

The King continued in her silence. "It's the only explanation I can think of. I have always loved you, Usako. I know it's not me you need to hear it from, but it's true."

She still said nothing. She was too angry, and she didn't want to say something she'd regret. How dare this man try to unravel their future because someday it went sour. How dare her own Mamoru think it was _his_ choice how to protect her.

Endymion must have sensed the irritation boiling in her. "And… it would not be out of character for me to do something cruel if I thought it would protect you," he said. He ran a hand through his hair and looking meaningfully at her.

"Like keeping the Queen in the palace?" Her voice sounded angrier than she'd intended.

The King's eyes began to water but he did not look away. He nodded slightly. "How'd you know?"

Usagi shook her head at the stupidity of the question. "She wouldn't do it for anyone but you. I wouldn't. Stay inside, stay away from the world. When have I ever listened to anyone about danger? There are too many people to love. To protect." Usagi huffed out a laugh. "Except for you. I would give up anything for you."

Anything. It was true. The past, the present, the future. She'd died for lack of him. She'd tried to let him go because she believed it was what he wanted. She'd somehow catapulted herself into the future to save him. And still he doubted her. Still he tried to shape the boundaries of her love.

"Why'd you do it?" she asked.

The King nodded. He must have known he would have to answer to this. He looked down at his hands, pulling at his fingertips. "There comes a time when I almost lose you, Usako. More than any other time before, and this time it… breaks me. That's when we start building the palace's defense systems. It's when we start stockpiling food, and you stop leaving the palace. It was me that did that. I was too afraid. I couldn't let you be at risk anymore. Which is why this… this future… one where you are comatose and trapped and I am powerless... is so painfully ironic."

The King took a deep breath. "Seeing you like this, less refined, still used to being part of the world… it makes me understand how wrong I was to do that. I haven't ever protected you, really. But it's a delusion I seem to be fond of in my weaker moments."

Yes. It was. There was some comfort in hearing him acknowledge it. Yet it didn't make it clearer to her.

The truth was, Usagi didn't understand why you would try to love someone by making them smaller. But she didn't want to be angry, and she also knew that the King was telling her as much of the truth as he could. This, she knew now, would be the battle she and Mamoru were likely to face again and again: he would want to keep her safe, but it would make her less free. Because loving someone was necessarily terrifying. It opened you to losing everything. Mamoru had felt that acutely with his parents in a way that Usagi had not.

But Usagi was born with a faith that the risk was worth it. Wasn't that a gift, something she should feel lucky to have? She could feel her anger diminishing. It wasn't a battle for tonight, or even for this man in front of her.

Usagi lowered herself back down on the bed until she was lying flat. "Okay, you told me," she said, trying to smooth the irritation from her voice. She turned her head toward him. "Can you kiss me now?"

* * *

Four days of evening makeout sessions. One evening of down-to-the-underwear. Five "goodnight, Usako" before they could get close to activating any sex magic. Really, the man's restraint was impeccable.

His resolve was breaking, she could tell, even though there was something still bothering him. But Usagi was impatient. To get back to the past, yes, but also… a woman could only take so much build-up before she imploded.

So the next evening, while Endymion fetched them glasses of water from the palace kitchen, Usagi stripped down to nothing and crawled under the comforter, waiting.

When Endymion pulled back the covers, he took in the full sight of Usagi, her blue eyes blinking up at him.

"Please…?" she asked.

As if the King had the power to deny her.

* * *

They started with conversation, the way so many things between them here had. Namely, about the power that had sent her here and how it worked.

"Why does it react to sex, exactly?" Usagi asked him, unbuttoning his shirt as he laid next to her.

"Well… the crystal likes what you like, so to speak," he said, pulling his sleeves off and letting the shirt fall to the floor.

"Meaning?" Usagi asked, pulling one of his arms around her.

Endymion paused a moment, his palm making its way from her ribs to her belly and up between her breasts, running a thumb across her lips. Usagi sensed a turn in him, proper king to the man beneath the tuxedo. Restraint to desire.

"Meaning… if you're really liking something. Say…" he pulled his hands away from her lips, tickling her throat, chest, and abdomen "...a caress on your thigh…" he ran his fingers between her legs, stopping just short of her groin. "... the crystal absorbs that energy."

Was he _teasing_ her? By god, this man would kill her.

"It's quite nice, really. Instant feedback on your performance from the most powerful object of the universe." His breath was hot on her neck and his fingers ran gently up her outer thigh, her abdomen, caressing the outside of her breast.

He was driving her wild. "So why, in the past, when we, um," could Usagi please speak like an adult here? Forgo a condom. Have sex without protection. Hell: _when you come inside me._ "The sex magic that transported me here." Christ. "Why was that… more, than what it had been before?"

"Well… I assume you and Mamoru were…" There was a smirk in Endymion's voice "...experimenting." She could feel Endymion's hardness against her leg, as his hands descended back down her body.

"Yes…"

"It's hard to say with magic, really…" Endymion pushed himself onto his hands and started trailing kisses down her chest, pausing to take her breast into his mouth. "My theory has always been-" he took the opposite nipple into his mouth and she let a moan escape "-that it's the energy of two crystals - mine and yours -" he lowered himself onto a forearm to free his hand and let it travel between her legs "- meeting in one body."

His fingers gently massaged at her wet entrance before pushing inside. He brought his face back to hers and kissed her as she arched her back into him, his fingers curled inside her precisely where she craved them. It felt _good_, and yet she wanted more, more, more. She did not want a substitute for him, she wanted him completely.

Usagi leaned back from the kiss and reached her hand down to his, pulling him away. He seemed surprised, her hand sliding back up to his shoulder and gently pushing Endymion onto his back. She pulled his underwear down just enough to free him, taking him into her hand as she lifted herself to straddle him.

"Okay?" she said, holding herself just above him. She had to know he wanted it, too. Not just to tease her, but for real. That after everything they'd talked about over the many weeks she'd been there, he was ready. Ready to see what their bodies might do. If they might be able to save both of their timelines. If this bond was really as eternal as it appeared.

Endymion lifted his hand to her cheek, pulling her down into a kiss before leaning his forehead to hers. "Okay," he said.

* * *

It was not so unfamiliar, the way he felt inside her, all heat and comfort and damn right _pleasure._ But there seemed to be something even more electric. What was it that made them so full of fire? Had it been how long they had danced around it, this seemingly inevitable pairing? Or that, perfect as they may be, they were still disjointed, their bodies made for other versions of each other?

Or that this Endymion had hundreds of years more to learn how to meet her perfectly?

Usagi ground her hips against his, his hands on the outside of her thighs, helping to lift her and bring her down with force. She tried to follow his pacing, her legs burning at the effort. They were being fast and joyful, almost ridiculous. She tried to laugh, tilting her head back, but it inevitably turned into a moan. The slightest changes in angle he was making brought out an entirely new side to this position, a tilt of her hips this way, a thrust into her that way. Usagi felt she was losing control, if she'd started with any at all.

Just as she felt she might tip into the abyss, he held her hips in the air and suddenly they'd moved, her bent over and him entering her from behind. This, too, felt novel. She lowered herself to her forearms and he took shallow, hard thrusts, causing her to gasp in short bursts. She felt almost dizzy, like she'd forgotten how to breathe.

But it wasn't until they moved again, Usagi laying on her back, Mamoru rocking against her from above that Usagi realized she could feel the _hum_ of the crystal. It was subtle at first, she was so lost squeezing against Mamoru, her whole torso determined to enjoy every last ounce of sensation. But the hum was there, and it was growing louder, just as her body was starting to encourage her to let go. Endymion noticed the light first, his head turning as he panted against her.

"Usako…"

"I know, I feel it, too," Usagi panted out. Her connection to the crystal was building, as was her pleasure. It felt raw and powerful, just as it had before she'd arrived here. She tried to focus on feeling everything - Endymion's body at one with hers, the crystal intertwining itself between them… they were close, so very close…

And then, in a moment, there was nothing. "I'm sorry — I'm sorry, I can't..." King Endymion raised his body off of hers and stood at the foot of the bed.

The crystal's shine went out like a light, and Usagi felt as if all of the heat left the room. Usagi's body was screaming, would have done anything for release. The power it must have taken to step away from it...

King Endymion was shaking, his voice a hush. "I'm not ready to lose you again."

* * *

AN: I know several of you are curious about Mamoru in the past's experience and how much time has passed for him, to which I say… in due time. Either the next chapter or the one after that, most likely.

I am truly loving your reviews - please keep them coming, they so help the writing process!


	5. Chapter 5

Summary: Usagi and Mamoru discover that their intimate moments lead to power-ups for Sailor Moon. When Mamoru breaks up with Usagi and the Senshi are kidnapped, Usagi asks Mamoru for one last time in order to save the world. The crystal, however, has other plans.

* * *

For the first time since she'd met him, this future Mamoru, she could clearly see the man she'd left behind in him. Namely, in the wake of his decision, he looked at Usagi wordlessly, breath heavy and still dewy in their shared sweat, then pulled on his pants and left.

Usagi didn't know where he went, and though part of her craved a resolution, wanted to smooth things over, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was drained, in part from the crystal's initial activation, but mostly from the emotional rollercoaster of loving this man. Loving him and then him leaving her. Loving him and him treating her like a treasured heirloom, so precious she didn't know if she could trust it — and then being left again.

Was this love? She hadn't imagined it to be so exhausting.

Maybe in the morning, she would convince herself to pull the thoughts of out of him, unspool the tangle he was caught in.

But not tonight. She pulled the covers over her naked body and fell asleep.

* * *

Endymion felt helpless. It was a rare feeling and debilitating for him.

Serenity had spent years cracking open his chest, teaching him to express his joy, his sorrow, to be frank with his concerns so that they could face them. She had done well. But his reaction to helplessness had always alluded her. It was too immediate and powerful, and it sent him reeling, his stomach dropping from beneath him, like a boy careening off a cliff.

Helplessness was intolerable, and he avoided it with precision. Perhaps he could have tried to explain this to Usako: there were some facets to a damaged psyche became unfixable. They grew into features.

Could it be narrowed to a single moment, the burn that made every future flame of helplessness impossible?

Yes. And for the woman he'd left behind, it hadn't even happened yet.

* * *

King Endymion and Neo Queen Serenity had been walking in Crystal Tokyo's botanical gardens. Chibiusa was small then, just barely walking, a handful of words to her name: yes, no, ice cream, more, Odango (which sounded more like 'dyno,' except that she squeezed at the small buns on top of her head when she said it.)

The park had been beautiful that day, the breeze slight, cooling the day's warmth on their skin. Their royal duties had kept them busy, but Serenity had demanded they spend the afternoon together, brushed off all of their advisors who had pushed for last-minute appointments. What was the point, she told them, of creating a peaceful world if she never got to see her loved ones enjoy it?

So ice cream it was, then the botanical gardens, and she'd planned to take them to a new state-of-the-art gaming complex, where there were games that lit up an entire room that you rented privately, where no one would stare at her as she batted away digital evildoers in a full-length gown.

But they hadn't made it to the gaming complex that day. Mid-way through the gardens, they were stopped by a man with white-silver hair. When he approached them, he took Serenity's hand and kissed it, told her it was an honor. Serenity had responded with her trademark enthusiasm, happy to be out in the world, happy to engage with a citizen outside of formal community meetings.

What is it you do? Serenity had asked him.

"I'm a bit of a magician," he said. The coolness of his voice still haunted Endymion. He'd sensed there was something off, but he'd pushed it down, ignoring the alarm his body was sending. Chibiusa was fussing in his arms, reaching for Serenity. Serenity took her, pointing at the man.

He does magic, Serenity said, her voice high-pitched and loving.

"Yes," the man said. "I'd be happy to show you a trick now."

Serenity nodded, tickling Chibiusa's tummy and looking back at the man.

Chibusa was clapping, and Endymion turned his attention to her, endeared. He did not see what happened next. What he heard was Serenity gasp, and when he looked, the man was twelve feet in the air, levitating. _What…?_

But he hadn't time to think about it, because he heard the sound of something hitting the ground and Chibiusa's cries. His daughter was on the ground, her mother standing above her, arms slack, gazing into the magician's eyes.

"Stop!" Endymion yelled. He conjured a rose, which he hadn't done in centuries, and flung it at the man. It scraped his face, and the man turned to look at him.

"It doesn't matter now," he said. "I have what I wanted. She's mine."

Chibiusa was still on the ground, crying, reaching out for her mother. Serenity began to rise in the air, too. Endymion leaped, grabbing for her feet and missing. He screamed her name. She floated toward the man, who held reached out and took her hand. Chibiusa had stopped crying, looking on in confusion. Endymion lifted her up, fumbled at his wrist for the communication device that would send for the Senshi.

When he looked back, the man was cupping Serenity's cheek. He leaned in for a kiss.

"No! No no no no no no!" Chibiusa screamed in his arms. "No! No no no no no no no -" Her head was shaking back and forth, and she grew warmer in Endymion's arms. In an instant, the crescent symbol on her forehead flared, and an energy blast released from her body.

"Get back!" Serenity's voice sounded. She was moving away from the man, a hand to her lips. He lunged for her again, but a glowing lasso wrapped around his body, and Serenity was quickly flanked by her Senshi, moving all of them to safety.

Chibiusa was unconscious for three days. When she awoke, she was the same sweet girl they'd always known. It wasn't until later they realized that her growth spurts had slowed, that her quick progress toward becoming a little girl seemed to be stunted. The only explanation Mercury could offer was that the growing crystal in Chibiusa had been released too early, leaving them - both the crystal and Chibiusa - traumatized. There was no hint at a power within her now.

Serenity blamed herself. She flinched at Endymion's touch, her eyes far away. After six months, Endymion's fury had grown. He'd already begun stockpiling the castle, working with the castle's staff to fortify the walls, create an emergency shelter. But there was one more thing that had to be done.

The man they had come to know as Diamond had been held in Crystal Tokyo's prisons. From what they coudl tell, he was just a man with extraordinary powers. There was no dark plot behind him, only the evil that sometimes twisted within a human. Serenity had sent him there to be rehabilitated, though their methods weren't working. You couldn't purify a human spirit that, technically, was not corrupted by outside forces.

For Endymion, it wasn't good enough. One night, after Serenity had been staring into the distance for hours, he reached his limit.

"Enough," the King said. "He cannot live on this planet any longer, Serenity."

The queen shook her head, growing smaller. "What would you have me do?"

He knew that she fundamentally believed all humans could be saved, that every effort must be made to spare them. To her, there was no option for casualties. But he could not let the man affect his family any longer. "Banish him," Endymion said. "Banish him, or I'll kill him myself."

He thought that would be the end of it. Truly, he did. With time, Serenity began to act like herself again. Chibiusa was a thoughtful young lady, powerless and small though she may be.

But Diamond had come back. He'd found a power source to fuel his twisted human heart into something exponentially more powerful.

Despite everything Endymion had done to keep Serenity safe, it hadn't mattered.

Diamond had won.

* * *

When Usagi woke the next morning, King Endymion was sitting at the edge of the bed. He'd set a cup of tea on the side table, which had been the first thing to rouse her from sleep: the smell, the sound of the cup being set down on the edge of her consciousness. Then she felt the bed sink under his weight, and she slowly opened her eyes.

She was surprised to find her weariness hadn't dissipated, and her anger had grown. She took a breath, trying to ease the tension that gripped her chest in the shape of a fist. After a few of these breaths, she hoped she would be able to face whatever version of Endymion she might see today: apologetic, dismissive, a calm argument for his point of view. She shifted herself to sit up in the bed and took the mug into her hands, feeling the sting of its heat.

"Usako," he said. She let the comforter fall to below her chest as a kind of punishment. He had always been more bashful about bare bodies than her. She hoped it might rouse some desire in him, and regret.

"King," she said and saw him flinch.

His eyes did drop to her chest and then to the floor, where his gaze stayed. "I wanted to say I'm sorry," he said. He paused. "I'm sorry I let things go that far."

Usagi was glad for the heat of the tea. She imagined it spilling out of her palms and onto her body, turning it red and burning. He was sticking to his decision, and now it was a battle of wills. The Mamoru she'd known had always out-witted her in arguments, but she felt a new sense of righteousness fueling her.

"What is it you think I'm doing here, King?" she asked. Usagi could scarcely believe how cool her voice sounded, or how little warmth she was currently able to muster for the King. All this time, and still this man hadn't learned to let her choose her own fate. Even after he'd lost everything. "I'm not here to play house. Or to replace the queen. I need to get back to my own timeline."

"I'm aware of that," Endymion said, his voice formal but soft, failing to match her sharpness.

"Then you should be apologizing for not letting things go far enough."

Endymion looked as if he might crack, as if he might turn to agree with her at any moment, asking her forgiveness. Usagi had never won in this way before, and she was not sure she enjoyed it, even if it did get her what she wanted.

But then Endymion faced her again. "I'm sorry that I can't give you what you want," he said. His voice was not angry but defeated. He stood and walked to the doorway. "If you need anything, I'll be in the control room."

And with that, he left.

* * *

So it went like this. They did not talk. Usagi spent hours turning the crystal over, wishing she understood it better, willing it to act independently of Endymion and whisk her home. It did not. It looked dull here, not even a faint sparkle. She read through manga listlessly, she piled plates high with snack rations and ate them with little enthusiasm on the library floor. Endymion would occasionally linger at the fringes of the room she was in, as if giving her the opportunity to let it go — go back to the intimacy they'd developed without the mission of purpose. But she couldn't.

That night, he did come to bed with her. They lay side by side, a foot of space between them, each reading on their own. When Usagi turned out the light, Endymion did as well, and then wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"I am sorry, Usako."

Usagi said nothing. But she did let him hold her.

* * *

Usagi dreamed of walking through a garden, Mamoru by her side, a child in her arms. The sunlight kissed at her skin. _If it all ended today_, she dreamt, _this moment would be enough to have made everything worth it_.

She looked up and a white-haired man was staring at her. His hand was gesturing for her to come closer.

She held the child in her arms tighter. She prepared herself to fight.

* * *

The rules of Usagi and Endymion's new peace never had a chance to be discussed. Late that night, they were awoken by an alarm and the sound of shattering glass. Usagi had barely registered the noise when she realized Endymion was already up, his hand outstretched to her, loudly whispering her name.

"Usako, get up. Quickly. They've found you."

Together they ran. Down the hallway, past the library that was now filled with smoke and flame. Usagi paused just beyond the door, lifting her crystal and calling out for her transformation, but the crystal laid limply in her palm. She looked at the crystal, feeling frightened for the first time, as Endymion tugged at her to keep running.

Endymion pulled them to the chamber that held the bodies of the queen and the Senshi. He sealed the door.

Behind them, a translucent diagram appeared, video footage of who was launching the attack. The computer zoomed in more closely to a man standing at the edge of a spiked space ship, his hair white, his eyes cold, a black moon crescent moon pointed downward on his forehead.

Endymion swiped the image away and began pulling up complicated diagrams, seemingly to improve the security of the room they were in. But it didn't seem to work, as another crash rang through the palace even closer than before. Endymion pulled her toward the door she had rescued his body from and pressed his hand against it.

"Who was that?" Usagi asked as the door melted away. The man looked suspiciously like the one from her dreams.

"His name is Prince Diamond," he said, pulling her inside.

"Is he the person who's actually behind the Black Moon clan?"

"Not exactly," he said.

"What does he want? The crystal? It's always the crystal -"

"No, not the crystal."

What else was there to want? And why would he have shown up in her dreams? "I don't understand. Why would he be attacking the palace if he didn't want the crystal?"

Endymion paused. "Prince Diamond is from Crystal Tokyo. The earth is his home. But…he wanted something here that he couldn't have."

"What?" Usagi said, shaking her head.

"You, Usako. He wants you."

* * *

"They probably found you because of the crystal from the other night. They noticed its energy signature," Endymion said, running his hands through his hair. It was a nervous habit she hadn't realized she'd been missing.

"What are we going to do? All of the food is out there -" Leave it to Usagi to think of food at a time like this. "We can't stay in this room forever."

Usagi saw Endymion's face change, from focused chaos to realization. He tipped his head back and let out a laugh that sounded equally like a cry.

"You can't stay in here forever," Endymion said, meeting her eyes. "Because the computer thinks you're already here, asleep, because you are." Usagi nodded. "But I can go back to the way I was."

Usagi decided to table her questions about Diamond for the time being and shook her head violently. "No! You were being tortured, I felt it -"

"That was the Black Moon's injury, and you saved me from it. This time I would just be unconscious. You, on the other hand, can't stay. " He put his palm to her cheek, waiting for his words to sink in. Usagi's eyes widened in understanding. "I know it's not an ideal situation. I'm sorry I couldn't do it right the first time. But we're going to have to undress now."

An explosion sounded so close that Usagi's ears were ringing, and she couldn't entirely make out what he was saying as he pulled his pants off and slid her underwear to the ground. She was still wearing a nightdress, and he lifted her to the stone bed where she'd first found his body.

"...sorry for the lack of foreplay…" she heard him say, as he dipped his head between her thighs and started to run his tongue along her folds.

"Mamo, wait - maybe there's another way? How strong is this place? Can it hold them off?" It was hard to get the words out, she kept gasping from the sensation. Surely, they had some time? She couldn't leave this place right as it was being attacked. She couldn't leave everyone - the King, the Senshi, the Queen - vulnerable.

He slipped a finger inside her and rocked it upward as he looked up at her. "This room is reinforced with the crystal's magic itself, and should theoretically be impossible to destroy." Usagi could not believe how wet she was getting despite the warzone she was in. Jesus, was that a sign of something? Had all these years as Sailor Moon given her some kind of fetish for battle? "But if you're here, he will come for you, and I can't lose you to him again."

His body felt so good against hers, she almost didn't catch what he'd said. His mouth was on her neck, his hardness poised at her entrance when it clicked.

"Again?" Usagi said, just as he entered her.

* * *

In between thrusts, and as they switched positions, Endymion gave her the shortest version he could. Diamond had been obsessed with her. He'd hypnotized Serenity, and it had worked, and it was only by the brief, heartwrenching power of their child that she hadn't been lost to him entirely.

He left out the part about him being the reason Diamond was banished. He left out the part where she wandered the castle for months, a ghost of the person she'd been.

But mostly what was haunting Endymion was that, yet again, he would be without her. Only this time, it would be of his own choosing.

He'd only just finished the story about Diamond when Usagi pushed him violently away, his back slamming against the concrete wall.

"You're doing it again!" she screamed. "You don't trust me! You never trust that we'll find our way through it. You always think you have to make the choice alone!"

He shook his head, tears threatening his eyes. "I'm trying to do the right thing, Usako."

She hit his chest, fighting him angrily. "You haven't learned anything. You're still trying to save me!"

Her words pierced him so deeply that a sob gathered in his throat and he collapsed against her shoulder. Was he doomed to repeat this moment again and again? He would give anything for her safety, and his actions would put her more in harm's way. If not immediately, then eventually.

Another crash erupted, shaking him from his self-pity. He took a breath and felt the heat of her skin beneath his palm, looked up to see her perfect blue eyes, angry and loving and sorrowful. She was still here. She could still be saved. And though he knew she was begging him otherwise — to stop trying to save her, to stop needing her to be so damn alive — he was not a strong enough man to take the chance.

He lifted her off the stone bed and quickly pressed her chest into the corner. He lifted her nightdress and positioned himself at her entrance. Despite her anger, she pressed back with her hips, guiding him in. He began thrusting into her again, harder than he'd ever allowed himself before. At first, he worried it might be too much, but almost instantly the crystal began to glow, rising into the air and hovering above them.

"Ma — mo —…!" Usagi tried to say, half moaning his name.

He could feel her squeezing him, the way she started to hold her breath. He knew he had only moments. He didn't know what kind of past she would be going back to, if the world she would return to could still be saved, whether the past version of himself may have created even bigger mistakes, too big to undo.

But on the chance that she was sent back to exactly the same instant she had left, he tried to think of something other than the feeling of his chest being split open. He tried to think of all the moments in between. Her laughter in his apartment when they first moved in together. The look on her face the moment the doctors placed Chibiusa's small form on her chest. How beautiful she'd looked on the day they were married.

He leaned his head forward, his lips next to her ear. "I'm sorry, Usako," he said. "I will always try to save you."

He pulled her body firmly against his and released himself deeply inside her as they came together. The crystal began to flash in dashes. It had already possessed her, her eyes gone blank. He held her close, the remnants of her orgasm squeezing at him. He pulled her back to standing and stayed inside her, knowing she would not be there much longer. He trailed kisses down her shoulder, tried to take in the smell of her. How long would the mere memory of her have to last this time? Too long. A moment was too long.

Usagi raised her hands to cradle the crystal. He heard her whisper something he couldn't make out, and like that, his arms were empty.

King Endymion stood holding nothing but air. He allowed himself to cry until the tears reached his collarbones. Then he forced his spine to straighten. He looked at the stone slab in front of him, closed his eyes, and laid himself down.

* * *

AN: Again, thank you so much for the truly lovely reviews! Your thoughtful comments about the plot & which parts are appealing to you was a huge motivator in getting this next chapter up after a hectic few weeks of family and friends being in town.

I also want to give a special shout out and thank you to FloraOne, who had a lot of kind things to say about the plot of the story so far, and was a big inspiration to me when it came to writing this story down in the first place - her stories made me realize what I valued about sex in fanfiction & I've devoured literally every one of her pieces on this website.

The next chapter will finally take us back to Mamoru-of-the-past's perspective.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please continue to let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

Mamoru Chiba stood in front of his bathroom mirror, searching his own eyes for some kind of message. Where was the bravery of a prince now? Where was the impromptu strategy of a tuxedoed madman?

What he knew was this: A few hours ago, he and Usako had been naked in his bed. He'd been on the brink of ending their breakup, willing to face whatever challenge might throw itself in their path. He needed to be with her, and he would risk anything to do it.

Now he wished he could take it all back.

In the moments after she disappeared, he'd been frozen. He blinked his eyes a few times, hoping he might have been hallucinating. He said her name aloud and had never heard himself sound more like a child.

When it was clear she was not in his apartment — that she was not in any room, that her clothes were still thrown across his floor — Mamoru dropped to his knees and put his palms on the floor, searching the earth for where she might have gone. He searched mountaintops and crevasses, deep sea and sky, wound through sewers and skyscrapers. He scanned the crystal-shaped spaceship hovering above Tokyo and found several signs of life, including the Senshi, none of them Usako's signature. As far as he could tell, Usagi was nowhere on planet earth.

Was this the future the dream had been warning him against? A moment of bliss followed by a moment of abject horror—it was more on-the-nose than any premonition had the right to be.

In a world without Usako, Mamoru felt critically useless. He had no power. He had no function if not to protect her. And, he was realizing, very little motivation. What was there to do but lay down and let the end come?

That was when he remembered Chibiusa. The Black Moon had made it clear that she was target number one, and without Usako to protect her, Mamoru was all she had left. He gathered himself and transformed, running and jumping the quickest path to the Tsukino's house. Chibiusa was asleep on Usagi's bed, her small body sprawled and snoring. Mamoru lifted her against his chest.

"Mamoru?" Luna asked, sitting up from the ground next to Usagi's bed. Her voice was fearful, as if she'd already noticed that the planet was missing its most important member. "Where is Usagi?"

Mamoru shook his head, standing at the window. "Gone."

* * *

Chibiusa was asleep — it was still early morning, the sun only just beginning to rise. He'd put her in his own bed, though he knew it was a fantasy to think the Black Moon would not find her here if they looked hard enough. He had no idea what he should do. It seemed to him there were two options: run, or fight.

Though he was sure he hadn't been able to find Usagi's energy on the spaceship, for a moment he let himself believe that she may be there anyway. Perhaps she'd blocked him psychically to such an effect that it had rendered her invisible to his powers. If Usagi was on the ship, he needed to join her.

But the part of him that knew she wasn't there railed against it. It would be a suicide mission. Even if he managed to save the Senshi — which was so unlikely he recognized it as pure egomaniacal make-believe — there would be no one to protect Chibiusa while he was gone, leaving her vulnerable to attack in what was almost certainly a trap to begin with. Which left him with only one other option: let the Senshi die, if Rubeus was true to his word, and spend however long he could protecting Chibiusa and running.

Mamoru moved out of the bathroom and into his kitchen, placing his hand on the center island. These were not the noble choices he had come to believe in. They were certainly not what Usagi would want. She would tell him there had to be a way to save everyone — not a soul left behind.

But Usagi wasn't here. Usagi wasn't anywhere.

It was this thought that brought him back to his knees, this time not to search, but to pray. To plead, really. _I will do anything if you bring her back,_ he begged. _Never touch her, never look at her again._ His head bowed to the ground, he listened, as if waiting for an answer. After several long minutes of silence, he sat up again and let out a wry laugh. What god was he praying to, exactly? He had only ever had faith in one being, and she was gone.

It was hitting Mamoru that even after all that, even having her disappear right in front of him, he did not regret what they'd done. What he regretted were the months he'd spent away from her. Every moment he'd pushed her away when he could have been cherishing her, any second they got to be together. Her arms around his waist. The smell of her hair.

_Who am I kidding_, he thought. _If she were here, I bow at her feet. I would sew myself to her skin._

There was no prayer that could change his own stupidity or the runaway fears he'd let lead him. God, if only he could change things. What he wouldn't give to go back, even very briefly, in time.

Mamoru stood up, only to have hot, bright energy knock him back off his feet.

* * *

Usagi gasped, the force of the time travel swirling in her body. It felt like being cosmically seasick, the waves of the universe undulating through her.

She wanted to strangle Endymion.

Yes, she had desperately needed to come back to this time. But not while he was under immediate attack. Not while the entire future was crumbling before her. Certainly not after he'd given her passing details of the silver-haired man who was crippling two timelines, fueled by cruelty rather than darkness.

_There was something about his eyes,_ Endymion said._ You can't look straight at him. Whatever you do —_

Which is perhaps why, when she felt a hand on her bare shoulder, her first reaction was to lash out. She hit it out of the way, jumping back, raising her arms for combat.

"Usako?"

Mamoru. Usagi let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and let her arms relax. But as she looked at his face, she remembered: this was the man who had ruined them in this timeline, who had trusted the errant dream of a grieving King.

"You!" Usagi shouted, hitting his chest. "You fool! You absolute idiot! You've ruined _everything_." She was pounding against him, and he let her, making no move to block her fists, even as he let out little grunts of pain.

"Usagi, stop hurting Mamo-chan!" Usagi turned to see Chibiusa standing in her nightgown, her finger pointed at her, striking a stance that was not unlike her own signature accusatory posture as Sailor Moon.

Chibiusa ran closer and stood between them, holding her arms out as if to protect Mamoru. Usagi's fists had calmed, and she looked up to see Mamoru's eyes filled with tears, smiling.

"You're _back_," Mamoru said. He pulled Usagi into an embrace, Chibiusa squeezed at their shins.

"Ew, Usagi!" Chibiusa yelped, jumping out from them. "Why are you naked?!"

Usagi had almost let herself enjoy the hug with Mamoru, had almost forgotten her rage. But there it was again, flaring. She jumped back. "What day is it?" she said.

"Tuesday," Mamoru said, looking at her quizzically. OK. Tuesday was good. Tuesday was still the day of the battle. She might be able to save the Senshi.

"Usako, I'm so sorry —" Mamoru tried. No. Not now.

"What time is it?"

Mamoru looked at his watch. "8:30 a.m."

Fuck. She ran to the bathroom and dug through the cabinets, finding what she was looking for.

"Usagi —" Mamoru was at the bathroom door, and she pushed past him.

"I have to go. Right now." She grasped the crystal and raised it high. "Moon Crystal Power!"

The rush of her transformation crashed over her. The crystal felt strong and certain, fueled by her anger and determination. Perhaps by the residual sex magic, though it was hard to believe anything could be left over after traveling through time. She thought of the way Endymion held her at the end, how fiercely he'd clung to her body, even as he was sending her away.

"I'm glad you finally put some clothes on," Chibiusa said, sticking her tongue out in a gag.

Chibiusa. Her daughter, someday. A girl who had traveled through time, just like Usagi had. Except Chibiusa had done it on purpose to find a warrior who might save her mother.

Usagi hadn't done that. Hadn't even been able to get through to Chibiusa's father, in this reality or the next. She took a knee, pulling Chibiusa in for a hug, pressing the palm of her hand into the back of Chibiusa's head.

"Your parents love you very much, Chibiusa," Usagi said, pulling out of the hug and holding the girl by the arms. She looked her straight in the eyes. "It's not your fault that your mom is trapped. It shouldn't be your job to save her." She looked up at Mamoru. "It isn't anyone's job to save her."

* * *

It was the fastest Usagi had ever run in her life. She hurled herself off of Mamoru's balcony and raced from rooftop to rooftop, her boots thundering beneath her. She could feel Mamoru trailing behind, could feel him pushing at their psychic link begging for answers, for a pause, for a moment to talk. She couldn't give that to him. There wasn't time.

She reached the ground before the spaceship and charged toward it. Mamoru was still several hundred feet behind as a beam of light lowered down, surrounding her and lifting her into the sky.

"Stop! Usagi!" she heard him shout. Did she dare look back? She wasn't sure what she could say. She'd had hundreds of years to show him how to love her, and still she'd met the man he'd become. Perfect in so many ways, except for the most important. They were radically, impossibly doomed.

She opened the link. _Usako, please! I love you!_

Spinning in the beam, she held her fingers to her lips and blew gently down at him. A kiss.

_I know._

* * *

The Black Moon ship was the darkest place Sailor Moon had ever been. Each surface absorbed light of every kind, and yet somehow she could still see her hands, blurry though they were, in front of her. She was on her knees, a force that felt like gravity sucking her body toward the ground.

"Well, you did decide to come. How noble." Rubeus was before her, his boots only inches from her face. "I've been having quite a bit of fun with your guardians."

Electric bolts shuddered through the ship, illuminating the Senshi. Their bodies jolted, and they moaned, but it was clear that they'd been tortured for so long that they were lacking the energy to express their pain. "You know the deal. I'll take the crystal, and then I'll let the Senshi go."

"Release them first," Sailor Moon said. Rubeus considered her a moment, then shrugged. She heard their bodies fall to the floor.

"The crystal," Rubeus said, putting out his hand.

Sailor Moon took a breath, then pushed herself to stand. She could still feel her shoulders being dragged down, but she was up. She looked at Rubeus, who she could only make out thanks to his flaming red hair. "I don't make deals with lackeys," Sailor Moon said. "I'm here to speak with Prince Diamond."

"Prince Diamond is none of your concern —"

"I believe he might think otherwise," Sailor Moon said.

"Enough of this!" Rubeus raised a sharp black crystal in his palm and aimed it at her.

Sailor Moon tried to conjure her moon rod, but the energy flickered and died in her hands. The black crystals were too plentiful, and she was having trouble activating her magic. No time to hesitate, she dodged the incoming spear. She grabbed her tiara — the only weapon available to her— and shot. It sliced through the black crystals dangling from Rubeus's ears, sending him to his knees.

It was a lucky shot. Rubeus, she'd realized, was a phage, not even fully there, the conjuring of the crystals that had hung from his ears. His scream was cut short as his flesh went up in smoke.

She caught the tiara as it boomeranged back and placed it back to her scalp, then dashed toward the Senshi. She kneeled, checking for their pulses. They were still unconscious. How could she get them back to the ground on her own?

A slow clap echoed through the dark room. "Well, Serenity, I can't say I'm surprised. I send my finest men and you and your guardians cut them down. I invite you onto a ship made of the darkest material in the universe and still your power manifests, even if it was but a frisbee."

His voice was… warm. Charming. Was he _flirting?_ Sailor Moon knew, clearly, that she was in danger, but it was as if her body wouldn't conjure the adrenaline necessary for the situation. There was a whisper in her ear: could she be overreacting? Could it all be a misunderstanding?

Sailor Moon stood and turned her body toward the voice, her eyes closed. She tried to move away from the scouts, not wanting to drag the battle close to them. She felt herself trip over one of their arms.

"Ah, I see you've been told about my little trick. Yes, it's quite the gift." His voice was on her left, and she swung her fists toward it. He laughed. He pushed her forward, tugged her hair, touched her leg. "How long do you think you'll be able to fight blind, Serenity?"

She listened carefully, trying to pick up on where he'd gone. Nothing. A rustle to her right — then silence.

A slice ripped across her back, the pain searing.

She couldn't help it — her eyes flew wide, scanning the room for him. In front of her, a blurred figure floated down from the sky. He was in all white, his hair a flash of silver.

"Yes. There are those beautiful eyes. So angry. So cold."

* * *

There had to be a way inside, Tuxedo Mask thought. He placed his hands on the ground, searching every crevice of the ship.

He couldn't let her fight alone.

There had to be a way.

* * *

Sailor Moon still couldn't see straight, but Diamond's forehead appeared to be transforming, an oval turning darker between his eyes. "That's it, my queen. Come here."

"I know the story the King has told you, Serenity. Have you ever considered that perhaps it was not magic that made the queen come to me? I have always known my love for the queen was stronger than anything the King could offer. I know what true power looks like." Sailor Moon walked slowly toward him, letting the weight of the room pull down on her arms, her jaw. "You've met the King. The kind of man he is, the man he's become. Perhaps she wanted to leave. Perhaps she was tired of his lies."

"Usako!" A swirl of red and black crashed against Diamond. Sailor Moon stood frozen, Tuxedo Mask throwing punches as Diamond appeared and disappeared from view. Diamond unleashed a blast of energy that threw Tuxedo Mask against a dark crystal, electrifying him. He fell to the ground, his body twitching. Usagi flinched.

"Usako —" Tuxedo Mask's voice trembled. "Please, don't listen to him. I love you. I can explain —"

She didn't turn toward his voice. Diamond appeared back in front of Sailor Moon and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Usako!"

"I do believe you owe me a kiss," Diamond said. Her hand lifted toward his face…

In a flash, Sailor Moon grabbed her tiara and fused it against Diamond's third eye. She stepped back. The shape of the man before her was wrestling, trying to get the tiara off his head, but he couldn't.

"Impossible! How did you resist?" Diamond raged.

She lifted her gloved hand to her eyes. "Mamo-chan's contacts," Usagi said, looking at the transparent circles in her palms. She was, admittedly, feeling a bit smug now. "He's nearly blind, did you know? I could hardly believe how strong the prescription was."

She could hear Mamoru let out a relieved laugh. Diamond's fists clenched. "You haven't won yet," he said. "It will only get worse for you." With that, he vanished.

* * *

The whole ship was shaking. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask had been trying to wake the Senshi for twenty minutes, but they were out cold. Neither had considered what they would do to get the Senshi home. They could not use their transportation if all of the Senshi were out cold. Her crystal was performing little to no magic here.

They hadn't spoken, and it was eating Tuxedo Mask alive.

"I thought you —" he said eventually, as they paused to figure out what to do next.

"I know what you thought." Sailor Moon had one knee on the ground, brushing the hair out of Sailor Mars's eyes. "I know about the dreams, too, Mamoru."

"I should have told you —"

"The dreams aren't real, Mamoru."

"That's what I thought you'd say, but —"

"No. I mean it. They're not real. They're a product of your fears. Your deepest, darkest fears, so deep they can travel through time and space. They can infest a whole kingdom. They can latch onto a child."

Tuxedo Mask stared at her, wide-eyed. "Chibiusa?" The dreams had come through Chibiusa?

Sailor Moon nodded. A silence fell between them, moments passing while Tuxedo Mask grappled with what the dreams had cost them. "You know what I'm afraid of, Mamoru?"

Tuxedo Mask turned to her. Thunder, he thought thought. The dentist. Youma. The last of the cookies being gone. Losing anyone she loved — oof.

Sailor Moon was looking at the floor. "I'm afraid we'll do this forever. You'll lie to me, thinking it will keep me safe. You won't trust me. I'll love you as hard as I can and hope it will fix the part of you that would rather lose everything than risk getting hurt, and it won't work." She paused, still not looking at him, her face weary. "Someday we'll have created an entire world of peace, and it won't be enough. You'll still be afraid. You'll build a fortress to keep me safe, and you'll decorate it to look like being free, and we'll both lie to each other about it being enough."

"Usako, I —"

Laughter sounded from behind them both, and they turned. Diamond. Sailor Moon's tiara was still fused to his face, but he was clearly mad with glee.

"I tried to make this easy for you, Serenity," Diamond said. "If you'd only listened, no one had to get hurt. All I wanted was for you to be mine." His smile dropped, and anger filled his face. "But I don't need you in order to turn this planet dark."

Diamond lifted his hand, and above him an unconscious Chibiusa appeared, a princess dress covering her body, the crescent shape on her forehead golden and blinking. Oh God, he'd gotten her. He shouldn't have left her alone. But he couldn't have let Usako fight by herself.

Diamond seemed to sense Tuxedo Mask's despair. "Did you know, Tuxedo Mask, that you've never been able to save your precious moon rabbit from me? No, the last time I was thwarted, it was this child, smaller than she is now." The man was mad. Tuxedo Mask had no idea what he was talking about. Had Chibiusa faced Diamond in her own time? "You were absolutely useless, as usual. But this girl's power should feed Nemesis quite nicely."

The top of the spaceship opened, and a large planet, its crevasses turned red, sparkled with black energy. Wind whirled around them, their hair flying everywhere, their bodies turning cold.

"You don't have to do this, Diamond!" Sailor Moon yelled.

Diamond laughed again. "You always were naive, Serenity. Always believing that people could change." A beam of dark energy flashed down and surrounded Chibiusa, sucking the energy from her body. "They don't change. Haven't you seen that yet? Even your precious King."

King? Tuxedo Mask wondered. What king?

But the thought was short-lived. Diamond released a blast of energy, hurtling both Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon backward, and everything went dark.

* * *

In the dream, King Endymion was sitting in a field of flowers. Several yards ahead of him, Serenity and Chibiusa were twirling with the pollen, clapping their hands in the sunlight. He tried to move toward them, but could not. A wall of energy formed a wall between them. They were safe, but they could not see him, hear him. He could not hold his wife or his child.

But they were safe.

_Okay_, he thought. _Okay._ This is what he deserved. If it kept them safe, and happy, he could live like this, only ever watching. He'd been alone before. He could do it again —

A light caught his eyes, blinding. He was back in the small, cement room of the palace. Why had he woken? The silence of the castle was still deafening. Serenity, he could feel, was still entombed. Sailor Moon was long gone.

So why had he been lifted from his sleep?

The light continued to blare, and he squinted to try to understand its source.

Above him, the Silver Crystal was shining. Beckoning. Who was calling him? Or rather... When?

He reached out to touch it.

* * *

Tuxedo Mask was unconscious.

It was better this way. Sailor Moon felt for the hum of the crystal. She prayed. She begged. It was so dark here, and so evil, but she needed the crystal to help her.

Her locket opened on her chest, the crystal coming forward. She stood.

"Sailor Moon," a high, wounded voice called out. Sailor Venus was lifting herself up on her forearms. "It's a whole planet made of darkness. It will take everything you have. It might be more than —"

"It's the choice we have, Venus," Sailor Moon said. Venus was her friend, but she was also the leader of the Senshi. She understood battle better than anyone.

Venus nodded. "We'll be with you until the end."

With that, Sailor Moon — Princess Serenity — rose into the air.

* * *

Diamond and Chibiusa were ahead of her, and she flew toward them. Chibiusa was screaming in pain. Diamond seemed not to hear her.

"Stop!" Usagi yelled.

Diamond turned back to her. "It's over, Serenity," he said. He released Chibiusa, her small body still writhing in the air. "You were all I ever wanted. Destruction will have to be my consolation prize." He spread his arms and legs out, tilted his chin up, and fell upward into the sky. "Goodbye."

Nemesis absorbed him in, his body disintegrating before her.

Sailor Moon wrapped her arms around Chibiusa, forming a shield from the dark energy. She could feel the child's soft breath on her chest. The crystal's power had been drained from her. Oh god, she was just a kid. A spoiled, bratty kid, and now she was barely alive.

Above her, Nemesis was bubbling with new malice. She had only moments, she knew. She raced to bring Chibiusa back to the ground, laid her down at Mamoru's side.

She looked back at the black planet and felt a rage grow inside her. "You won't hurt anyone else!"

"You're not strong, Princess…" Nemesis gurgled. "You've never been strong enough to protect anyone…."

Usagi stepped forward, the clear hum of the crystal filling the room. The ship went from darkness to light.

* * *

When King Endymion arrived, he scarcely knew he'd gone anywhere at all. All he felt was the shine of the crystal surrounding him, terrifying and pure.

As his eyes adjusted, he recognized the Black Moon's ship from headquarter's surveillance footage. He saw the source of the light was Sailor Moon, the woman he'd sent away, her crystal aimed directly at a sphere hanging in the sky.

_Nemesis_.

Was that why he was here, to aid her? But where was her version of Mamoru?

Below him, he heard a man's groan. Tuxedo Mask was there, waking from a blackout. When he saw who was next to him, he lost his ability to breathe.

Small Lady.

He kneeled to touch her small form and pulled the girl into his arms. It had been so long since he'd last seen his daughter beyond his dreams. Here she was, badly wounded, but _alive_, goddammit. Is this why the crystal had called him? To reunite him with Chibiusa? Oh god, he could weep.

But then Endymion heard Tuxedo Mask struggling to stand next to him. "Usako...can't… the crystal will… kill her…" he muttered. His eyes were singularly focused on Usagi's form ahead of him. Endymion knew the stance he was in. He planned to intervene. To take a blow from Nemesis to shield her, perhaps, or worse, to push her out of the way, prevent her from unleashing the crystal's fullest power.

Usagi had been right. In every timeline, he was an idiot.

"You can't save her," King Endymion said, laying Chibiusa back to the ground, his arms aching from the loss. Tuxedo Mask's face whipped toward him. Tuxedo Mask hadn't realized he was there.

"Who are you?" Tuxedo Mask said, his cane outstretched as a threat.

"Please, Mamoru. You can't save her."

"Like hell I can't!" Tuxedo Mask extended his cane, and King Endymion caught it with his staff.

"You don't understand. I've tried to save her, too. It only makes things worse. Don't make the same mistakes I have."

"Your voice…" Tuxedo Mask said.

The light in the room changed, and King Endymion watched a shock of recognition pass over Tuxedo Mask's face. It was, indeed, like looking in a mirror. A tortured mirror, where you could only watch your deepest regrets replay again and again.

But Endymion had to try. "She's been begging us to do better for centuries," he said. "Stand with her. Support her. But we have to let her fight the battles she was born to fight. Even if it rips us apart."

Tuxedo Mask looked back toward Usagi. King Endymion followed his gaze. She was weakening, her body breaking down from being the crystal's conduit. They didn't have long to act.

Tuxedo Mask nodded. "Okay," he said. "For Usako."

* * *

There comes a point with the crystal where Usagi can no longer control it. Her body is a fever, channeling the crystal's power. There is nothing she can do to stop it, or to be sure she will wake when the fever passes. It's as if every molecule in her body is vibrating, and she's never sure if their bonds will be strong enough to keep her intact.

She is nearing delusion when she feels the first palm on her back, a tingle on her skin. She almost believes she's imagined it, until a hand reached out to cup her wrist and help her hold the crystal steady. She turns her face. It's King Endymion. How —?

But before she can wonder too long, there is another hand on her back, another arm reaching for her wrist. She turns her face to the other side, and there is Tuxedo Mask. She wants to weep, his eyes searching hers. _Is this what you wanted?_ They ask. She nods fiercely, her body stabilizing, the crystal growing brighter.

Above her, Nemesis screams.

Usagi screams back.

* * *

At the height of the crystal's force, King Endymion is using the Golden Crystal's power to hold Usagi's DNA together. He is guiding Mamoru's crystal, too, inexperienced as it is. He is so focused he almost does not notice the flicker ahead of him, not until it whispers in his ear.

_Mamo_, she says. He looks up. Neo Queen Serenity's spirit is standing next to him, holding her palm to his cheek. She leans down and brushes her lips against his, then steps back and leaps into Usagi's body.

Usagi's head leans back, and when she lifts herself upright again, she is no longer Usagi.

The Queen has returned.

* * *

It's amazing the chaos that can happen just outside your door without you ever knowing it. To the people of Tokyo, there were whispers of something strange in the sky, of danger in the next neighborhood over. Most thought nothing of it. They certainly didn't imagine themselves to be inches from oblivion.

They didn't know of the woman channeling the universe's most powerful force in order to keep peace in their city. They didn't know that it was not the first time she had saved them, and would not be the last.

If you asked what happened that night, at most, they would say only one thing:

It was the night the sky rained stars.

* * *

Afterward, there is silence. Not a cricket or a car, not a single breath breathed.

_Is it over?_ Usagi wondered. _Did we save them? Can we rest?_

_For now_, her own voice whispered back, somehow separate from her. _For now they are safe._

Exhausted, Usagi let her eyes shut to the dark.

* * *

AN: I really struggled with writing a battle sequence in this chapter, but hopefully it was satisfying. The next chapter will be the last and will be a (lemony) epilogue. If there are any unresolved threads that you're really hoping to have resolved, now's the time to call them out :) I would love to know what you think of the story! Your reviews have been so generous so far. Also - I hope you're all readying the fabulous Smutember stories coming out right now! FloraOne's "Lucid" story gave me so many feels.


	7. Chapter 7

Summary: Usagi and Mamoru discover that their intimate moments lead to power-ups for Sailor Moon. When Mamoru breaks up with Usagi and the Senshi are kidnapped, Usagi asks Mamoru for one last time in order to save the world. The crystal, however, has other plans.

* * *

It was hard to believe that, of all the possible series of events Pluto had witnessed, this was the one that might finally echo through time.

There had been so many. One where Senshi from outer planets had to intervene many battles too early. One where Chibiusa had grown into a wicked woman and Pluto had to break one of the cardinal rules of spacetime in order to prevent absolute catastrophe. One where the queen hadn't woken at all, but slumbered on and on for centuries, until every last one of them had lost hope.

But no. Instead, the future required multiple trips through time for several members of the royal family. All because one man — one fool-hearted, bumbling, pastel-cloaked dope of a man — needed to learn a single, critical lesson.

To be clear: you're not supposed to meet the future version of your spouse outside of the normal timeline. You're absolutely not supposed to meet the future version of your_self_, nor have him help you come to a decision, or influence your powers to aid the woman you love. Pluto had almost called a timeout on the whole thing. Redo. Saturn, blast us back to the beginning.

But it certainly was an _interesting_ development, and so she'd let it proceed. And damn, if it didn't seem to be working.

These two, always breaking the rules.

Pluto considered the question that the young princess had asked her, her eyes full of fear, not yet knowing the unbeatable woman she would become.

"Are you saying that if I King Endymion and I were together… it will all turn out OK?"

Wasn't this the central question of the universe? Wasn't this the heartbeat of every star that had been born, could be born, would be born?

But as the guardian of time, you did not get to spill the few fundamental secrets of the universe in the hopes that you could speed things along or simplify them down. You had to let the course run as it may.

A prince loves a princess.

A boy loves a girl.

A king loves a queen.

Their love creates a universe. His fear tears it apart.

Their love must try again.

* * *

Usako - some version of her, at least - had channeled the crystal so forcefully that every last trace of Nemesis dissolved: the planet that loomed above them, the black crystal ship that held them. Even the memory of the Black Moon seemed to soften. Mamoru watched the ground beneath them fade away, and before he could grapple with what falling to his death might feel like, he felt them float down to the ground, gentle as a feather.

At the bottom, Usako collapsed. Mamoru caught her, lowering her down, her head resting on his knees. Around him, the Senshi were waking up. Usako took in a great gasp, and as she exhaled, he watched a spirit peel from her body.

It was the spitting image of Usagi, but transparent and glowing.

The other version of himself was watching, too, transfixed. There was so much to ask, to say, but he was too exhausted to let his mind race with questions. There was only one thing he was capable of, and he would not be moved from Usagi's side. To cradle her like this was perhaps the one good thing he'd been able to do for her in months.

The spirit walked ahead, then looked at Chibiusa. The other Mamoru lifted the child into his arms and followed the spirit forward. Mamoru nearly lunged for the girl, but knew, somehow, that this was exactly how things were meant to go forward. Mamoru looked down at Usako — she was unconscious but very much alive — and when he looked back up, the three of them were gone.

* * *

Tuxedo Mask carried Usagi back to his apartment. He didn't want to be transformed - wanted to hold her as the man he was, not the stupid hero he pretended to be - but the fact was that Usagi, again, was completely naked. How could a woman who had so recently been powerful now look so vulnerable? He wrapped his cape around her and then moved quickly. He let the sparks of his golden crystal knit through her body, hoping she would feel less pain upon waking.

By the time they walked through his doorway, Usagi was stirring. He dropped his transformation, and Usagi opened her eyes, looking at him. He gently lowered her feet to the floor. She stood and turned her back to him, walking further into the apartment.

What had he done? Her exhaustion was so plain, every last drop of energy scooped from the marrow of her bones. From using the crystal, yes. But from him, too. His indecision. His criticism. His faithlessness. You rob a boy of his family, he spends a lifetime thinking no good can last. He builds a bomb-proof shelter for it, not realizing the explosion will come from inside the house.

He'd already made the decision back there on the spaceship, looking at the war-worn version of himself that had repeated the same mistake...how many times? Mamoru couldn't know.

It wasn't regret that Mamoru feared. Regret was inevitable — let him be lucky enough to regret many things over a lifetime. But he'd seen the man he'd be if he spent forever trying not to love her too much, and there was nothing that terrified him more.

Now, finally, Mamoru could see the woman she is, that she would become, the power that had been racing through her all this time. It was not a thousand years ago that a goddess had walked among them. It was now, here, in this very room. Selene.

When Usako turned back to him, she stepped forward. There was a question in her eyes.

He did the only thing that seemed worth doing.

He kneeled.

* * *

She can feel his breath on her abdomen, his lips rested against the curve of her belly. She wasn't sure which of them was shaking. She spread her fingers through his hair and used the grip to turn his eyes to her.

"There are things I need to tell you," she said. He nodded but began pressing kisses against her stomach, down her sides, at her hips. "The magic sent me to the future," she said, scanning for a reaction. "The man you met was a future version of you. King Endymion. The spirit you saw was a future version of me, Neo Queen Serenity. Chibiusa is their daughter… our daughter."

He was not reacting with the shock she expected. Had he already figured these things out? His hands were kneading against her backside, wrapping around her thighs. "The queen was unconscious, being protected by the crystal. That's why Chibiusa came here. The future was… horrible."

Her voice cracked. Mamoru looked up at her before putting his hands on her hips and shifting her so that she leaned against the arm of his sofa. He was being so gentle, so loving. She wondered how quickly he would recoil when he heard the truth. He began to kiss at her pelvis, the crease between her thigh and center. The sensation made her gasp, and she put a hand to his cheek, pushing him back. "Mamoru… the magic that sent me to the future also sent me back. The King and I… we…"

Again, Mamoru did not speak. But he also didn't break eye contact with her. Did he need her to say it, what she'd done? Was he waiting for her to apologize? Was that the right thing to do, though she did not feel an ounce of sorry in her bones?

"We slept together, Mamoru. To activate the crystal. So I could come back here."

Mamoru's hands were on her hips. He was still on his knees, his head tilted back to look up at her. She was trying to read him but could not. She thought about probing the psychic link, but didn't want to face rejection or, perhaps worse, the unfiltered overwhelm of emotions he might be experiencing.

What had she learned from the King? That Mamoru did not have to be read. He could speak. He could tell her exactly what he wanted or needed or meant. He didn't need to be a mystery to her.

So she let the silence hang. She waited for him to fill it.

* * *

Mamoru knew he was supposed to feel angry. Rageful. Possessive. Betrayed. That was the masculine response he'd been trained for. Then he was supposed to try to talk himself out of those feelings — _you'd broken up with her, she was free to do what she wanted; she technically slept with a version of you, so is it even cheating?_ — and come to terms with them, maybe after sulking for a few days, his pride intact. There was supposed to be some kind of emotional journey he would come out on the other side of. Or perhaps not, and he would resent her and let their relationship be doomed and justify to himself the reasons why.

Sure. Yes. Perfectly human emotions. Rational responses.

None of them, he realized as he scanned through his actual feelings, were even remotely applicable. Not even for the good reasons, like _what are the rules of fidelity when it comes to sex magic? Time travel? Reincarnated soul mates?_

Really, it all came down to the fact that Mamoru was so goddamn elated that Usako was back in his arms. Whatever other feelings might bubble up later, he hoped he remembered this most keenly: the electric feeling of her skin under his hands, the quiet sound of her breathing, her fearlessness as she looked him straight in the eyes to explain what had happened, incapable of withholding the truth, and the way that his heart felt like a cup overflowing.

Whatever else there was to discuss, to uncover, what he wanted most was to tell her two things.

One: "I'm so sorry, Usako," he said, sliding his hands from her hips and wrapping them around her waist, pulling her close. "I'm so sorry I let you believe I didn't love you."

Usagi shook in his arms, and he loosened his grip as she lowered herself down to meet him on her knees. Her eyes were full of tears. That wouldn't do.

He took her face in his hands. Two: "I have loved you every moment of my life."

* * *

They started on the floor, Mamoru's palms cupped underneath Usagi's breasts. He ran his thumb over her nipple, kissed it gently, trailed more kisses down her stomach. He pulled her arms above her head and pinned them there, his fingers interlaced with hers. Nudged her knees to the side with his leg, let the length of himself run up and down against her core, gently.

He kissed her mouth softly, probing with his tongue, waiting for her to open her mouth. Her tongue danced with his a moment, and then she grabbed his lower lip with her teeth.

"I missed you," he said as she released him, his erection still teasing at her entrance.

Usako lifted her legs and wrapped them around him, guiding him inside her. "I missed you, too."

* * *

They moved from the floor to the couch, from the couch to the counter, from the counter to the wall. After the third round, Usagi ached between her legs, but felt equally insatiable. They made a whispered concession that they should probably go to bed, that it was late.

They stumbled into the bathroom and began brushing their teeth. Her thighs were sticky with their lovemaking. Mamoru stood behind Usagi and she couldn't help but press herself back against him, and he grew hard again. _Usagi_, he grunted. She pulled away, trying to keep herself from pursuing it further.

When they got into the shower, Mamoru was nearing full attention again. Who were they kidding? Usagi slid her hands down his hips, his thighs. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, the water streaming over his body, she took him into her mouth.

He moaned and growled, and as his breathing became shallow, she sped up her pace. But he jerked away. "No," he said, and brought her back to standing. He braced her hands against the wall, his hands on top of hers, and entered her from behind. The warm water streamed against both of their bodies, and it wasn't long before they were coming together.

They would be responsible again tomorrow. Maybe. What, really, did they have to fear?

After they dried off, they got into Mamoru's bed and turned off the light. Mamoru wrapped his arms around her and they said goodnight, both knowing they wouldn't sleep. There were many whispered promises to make. There were apologies to be said. There were more orgasms to be had.

All through the night, the crystal flickered and flickered, but Usagi paid it no mind. She let the warmth of its power spread through her, and soon Mamoru was reacting to it, too, as if he could feel it through her.

It continued to blare, as if desperate for a job to do. What needed to be fixed? Who had to be rescued?

But there was nothing to pray for. Usagi had everything she'd ever wanted right here.

* * *

"Mamoru?" Usagi said, her voice a squeak. Mamoru was on the edge of sleep and Usagi's eyes were closed, too, even as she was talking.

"Mmhmm," he said.

"I don't want to fall asleep, she said, whispering into his clavicle. "I'm afraid we'll wake up tomorrow and things will be more… complicated."

"I love you, Usako. There's nothing complicated about it."

Usagi pulled back, her eyes open. He could see it was the wrong thing to say. But why…? "Mamoru, I'm telling you I'm afraid because it's important for you to know that. When you're afraid or hurting, you don't tell me. I feel shut out." Her breathing was speeding up, and he could tell she was starting to panic. "I don't want you to say big, sweeping, romantic things. I don't want you to rescue me. I want you to be in the mud with me. I want you to tell me when you're scared, when you're tempted to run or build up a wall."

Oh God. He couldn't even get this right for a single day. He'd promised himself he would do better, and here he was dismissing everything they'd been through because it was easier. Because he'd prefer not to talk about it. Because he'd prefer to bury it and pretend he couldn't feel the squirming coming from the grave.

"Clowns," he said, the word jumping out of his mouth. "I'm really afraid of clowns."

Usako sighed, shaking her head. "I'm not being funny. I don't feel like you're taking me seriously."

"I'm not being funny. I am genuinely terrified of clowns. Always have been. And dogs, too, if I'm honest."

"Okay, but…"

"And any time you're hurt - even when you're being theatrical over a paper cut - it feels like my stomach is going to jump up my throat and out of my mouth. You know how I disappear sometimes after a battle? It's because I can't look at you without wanting to hide you in a fortress somewhere. But I don't want to do that, Usagi, and I fight it all the time. I need you to be safe, but I don't want you to not be _you_. I don't want you to walk around afraid or cautious or less in love with the world."

Usako was quiet, but she seemed less annoyed, and her breathing was slowing again.

"When I saw him — King Endymion, I mean — I knew he'd lost the fight. He'd done something to you, the future version of you."

Usako nodded, and wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him toward her chest. He could hear her heart beating, slow and steady.

He let the quiet surround them for a few minutes before he asked the question that had been nagging at his gut. "Usagi… when you were with the king, what did you wish for that brought you back here?"

Usagi's voice was quiet. She was falling asleep again. "The same thing that sent me there. I wanted to save the people I loved. I wanted to save you."

* * *

As Usagi dreamed, Mamoru laid awake. He was thinking about the King again.

In the moments before the queen's spirit emerged, Usagi still unconscious in his arms, the King had turned to Mamoru.

Perhaps the dreams were necessary, Endymion said. The future was full of things he couldn't yet imagine. Perhaps the dreams were a test. "You can't have a half-hearted kind of love," he said. "It can't be a love made of fear."

After, as Mamoru finally slept, his dreams were different. He saw their wedding again, but instead of ending in chaos, he saw visions of Usako's face smashed with cake, her laughter echoing in his ears. He felt her body pressed against his. He held her hand as they walked around the Tokyo park, and as they stood in line to change her last name, and felt her lips on his as she showed him a small white stick with a plus sign on it. He felt Usako's arms wrap around him as she yelled, "surprise!", his apartment filled with their friends, a banner saying happy birthday strung across his living room. There were so many feelings: love, content, boredom, irritation. But mostly there was love.

Of course, Mamoru couldn't remember these things. It would have been a total breach of the time rules. This dream faded away into the background as most dreams do.

There was just that lingering feeling, love. If you asked him what he'd dreamt about, he'd say he hadn't dreamt at all.

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for coming on this ride with me. Your reviews have been so lovely, and it was such a pleasure to share this story I'd half-cooked up in my head with a group of people who enjoy reliving the experience of this series as much as I do. I'm a little sad it's over, and also ready to let it go and work on other projects as winter approaches.

If you write your own sex-magic stories, I'd love to read them. And as always, I'd love to know how you felt about this chapter and the series as a whole.

Love, moonwrite


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